Star Wars: Twilight Blade
by Anonymaton
Summary: Long has the blade slept... Long has the Forge been cold. Dead. Long have the halls collected dust and knowledge been buried... Unguarded... But now, something stirs in the Force. Now, the blade begins to awaken. It calls. Now it waits... Waits for a master to give it life once more...
1. Chapter 1

**Good day, everyone! Welcome to our second stab at a Star Wars story! **

**Creativity: Wait, isn't it the third?**

**Author: Second **_**proper **_**stab. The sampling doesn't count. **

**Anyway, not as much is going to be changed from the sampling. There'll be some updating, tweaking, added bits for better context and general polishing for the start. After that, well, then we can get into the good stuff…**

**Creativity: He's been hashing this stuff out for a while now.**

**Author: The pieces are all falling into place…**

**Creativity: Yeah, this might be all we're getting out of him for now. I'll handle the rest from here.**

**So, first off, we have a Discord Server! The password to join it is: ****xtydzBf**

**Next up, this story's gonna be shorter than our usual fare. Part of that is that we don't have the same amount of guff to get through, but also because we're kind of getting tired of the 100K words stories at this point. We've got New Dawn, AVBI, Limit Breaker, Before: KH getting close, so on and so forth. It's exhausting, and we have something big we want to do. However, we need this to do it. So, yeah. Keeping it short.**

**Well, that's enough of that! You're here for a chapter, you're getting a chapter! Now, we proudly present chapter 1 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade!**

* * *

Today was a very important day for Alvya Geran. It was a very important day for any prospective Jedi. Thus, it was much more understandable why she was feeling incredibly frustrated by the fact that she was now running through the Jedi temple to the Archives, since a _certain someone_ couldn't be bothered to check the time once in a while.

Alvya was a twelve year old human female with pale skin, black hair and brown eyes. She stood approximately four feet five inches and had a more serious personality than many of the other younglings she trained with, though she was not without a sense of humor. It mostly manifested in dry witticisms that she opted to deploy at 'key moments', those being typically when someone was making a fool of themselves. As such, she was busy formulating a fine collection of barbs for the target of her ire, once she finished dragging their absentminded rear to the landing pads by their tunic.

"Excuse me, I was looking for Arvos Moro? I was told he was seen coming here." Alvya breathlessly asked master Jocasta Nu when she arrived at the Archives.

"Yes, I believe I saw him down that way. He's been here for a couple of hours now." Master Jocasta answered with a kind smile as she gestured in the proper direction.

"Thank you, master. When I get my hands on…" She muttered as she hurried down the indicated direction. Jocasta could only shake her head with an amused smile before she turned to help the next Jedi who was requesting her assistance.

Soon enough, Alvya found the object of her frustration; a twelve year old human male youngling with shortish black hair and green eyes, who was completely engrossed in a holo from the archives concerning old lightsabers. This was Arvos Moro, a youngling that Alvya had been grouped with for as long as she could remember. For as long as she'd known him, Arvos had always had an obsession with lightsabers. However, it wasn't the typical youngling interest in the weapon of the Jedi. He was constantly researching theory and philosophy of the weapons, studying all the ancient designs he could, sketching out ideas for his own weapon with detailing to indicate purpose of design elements. More than a few of their teachers had indicated concern about how much time he spent researching the weapons, to the point of approaching members of the Jedi Council about it. However, the council seemed to be the least concerned about it; something that even Arvos found a little strange. Though perhaps they could consider speaking to him about it considering the situation they now found themselves in.

Normally Alvya would tap him on the shoulder but given the rush she was in and the frustration she was feeling, she instead opted to smack him upside the head before grabbing him by the back of his tunic and hauling him out of the chair.

"Ow, hey! What was that for?!" Arvos exclaimed. Alvya put her hands on her hips as she glared at him.

"Today's the Gathering! And if I hadn't come to find you in advance, you'd be running really late! As it is, we're both probably going to be a little late since I had to run across the entire _temple_ to grab you!" Alvya thundered, causing the boy to turn pale before grabbing a bag he'd had resting next to his seat and taking off at a run with Alvya in hot pursuit.

"I swear, if we miss the shuttle because you couldn't bother to pull your nose out of that holo for the umpteenth time, I will never let you hear the end of it!" Alvya shouted as they sprinted across the temple at record speed, skidding to a stop on front of a group of younglings who were waiting not-so patiently for them to arrive.

"Where was he?" Asked Tala Mair, a twelve year old Zabrak female who had her arms crossed. She had virtually no hair, save for one stripe that ran from the center of her head back between her just barely starting to grow crown of horns to form a wolf's tail, and dark blue eyes. She was probably the most accomplished duelist in their group and probably the most serious about becoming a Jedi among them.

"Take a wild guess." Alvya replied dryly before giving him another smack upside the head.

"Gimme a break, you already hit me once!" Arvos shot back before rubbing his head.

"Well, on the plus side, you're probably the most well prepared among all of us for after the Gathering." Garo Jauk, a twelve year old blue twi-lek male, mentioned. He was tall and broad, easily the strongest of the group and had blue eyes to match his skin. However, he a much gentler disposition than his large physique would suggest, often trying to look at the glass half-full. That wasn't to say he was a complete optimist, but that positivity could go a long way.

"Are we all assembled?"

The younglings turned to see a padawan walking towards them. It was a Mirialan male, about seventeen years old by Alvya's estimate. He had short black hair, purple eyes and an intricate patterning of diamond-shaped tattoos on his face.

"Yes, padawan Dulme." Tala answered with a short bow. The other younglings followed suit.

"Then I will keep this brief. Today marks a pivotal moment in your journey onward as Jedi. Today, you will journey into the caverns of Ilum and retrieve the crystals that you will need to build your own lightsaber." The Padawan declared, leading to massive grins of excitement among the younglings. The padawan turned and walked into the shuttle. After seating themselves, they eagerly looked out the windows as the shuttle jumped to hyperspace. It was the first time any of them had been off-planet, let alone in hyperspace. Watching the chaotic blue spiral of hyperspace was an incredible first for anyone.

"So, what kind of lightsaber will we be making?" Tala asked the other younglings, eager to have something to pass the time with, conversation being the best option.

"I'll probably keep it simple to start. Single blade and grip made primarily with form three in mind." Alvya replied.

"Probably the same, though I'm more leaning towards form four." Garo chimed in. That wasn't terribly surprising to them. Despite his large stature relative to the other younglings, Garo preferred to approach combat with swiftness and acrobatics. It had confounded Tala more than a few times when they'd sparred.

"What about you, Arvos? Given how you've read every bit of lightsaber knowledge in the archives, back to front, in reverse and upside down, you must have some thoughts about what kind of lightsaber you want to make." Tala asked the youngling in question. Alvya groaned and rubbed her forehead.

"What have you done?" She grumbled.

"Well, one thing I spent a lot of time considering was adding a cross guard blade to my lightsaber to aid in preventing dismemberment, but I'm not sure how many duels I'll find myself in, so I'll probably pass on that. Aside from that, I really don't know what design I'm going to go with. I'll probably stick to a single blade with further modification in mind." Arvos replied. They were a bit surprised by the restraint that Arvos had just shown, considering they knew he could conceivably have gone on until the landed on Ilum. And probably even longer than that. It was kind of weirding them out, now that they thought of it.

"What about you, Tala? You were asking me about design elements better suited to form four a couple of weeks back." Arvos inquired. Tala shrugged.

"Well, I have been thinking about a constructing a saberstaff, but I dunno… I don't want to bite off more than I can chew just yet. I'll probably just stick to a basic single blade for now." Tala replied.

"I remember the same conversation taking place when I was a youngling."

The younglings in question looked up to see padawan Dulme had walked into the room they were all sitting in, leaning on the doorframe.

"What was it like? Finding your crystal, I mean." Alvya asked. Dulme suddenly had a coy smile.

"Oh, I won't be telling you that, at least not until after you retrieve your own." Dulme replied before he stopped leaning on the doorframe and kept walking forward.

"However, I will say that it's very rare for a lightsaber to come out the way you originally envisioned. The Force has a funny way of guiding you to the saber best for you, even if it isn't what you necessarily what you envisioned."

Dulme left them on their own after that, and Arvos got up to follow. Alvya frowned. Come to think of it, he'd been acting weird lately. He'd been the most excited about the Gathering out of all of them, and while he did have a long-documented history of getting lost in the Archives, she doubted that his obsession with studying the detail of the wiring of an Old Republic era lightsaber would supersede his chance to construct a lightsaber of his own.

Getting up from her seat, she followed him out into the shuttle hallway. He was sitting on a bench while looking at a piece of paper, deep in thought.

"Are you alright?" Alvya asked. Arvos jerked a bit when he heard her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" He asked. Alvya frowned.

"Well, you nearly missed your own Gathering, you kept it pretty short with the lightsaber discussions when we all know you could have gone until the heat death of the universe, and I could go on. Seriously, what's bothering you?" Alvya asked again. Arvos looked a bit reluctant to divulge, but he relented and showed her the piece of paper he was looking at. Drawn on the paper was a rather intricate sketch of a sword. It was a single edged blade, slightly curved back and had a strange box of sorts set just above the handle. Additionally, there were labels outlining various features of the weapon. To name a few, there was the length of the blade, that there was an oscillator of some kind attached to the blade, a pattern inlayed into the handle to allow better grip, the list went on.

"What is it?" Alvya asked as she took the paper and gave it a few once-overs.

"It's a sword." Arvos replied dryly. Alvya rolled her eyes.

"First of all, that's my shtick. Second of all, why do you have it? You feel like ditching the lightsaber in favor of an analog blade?" Alvya prodded. Arvos shook his head.

"Every night for the past two weeks, I keep seeing this blade in my dreams. I don't know why, but it's always there and I can't get it out of my head. That's why I've been going to the Archives more and more lately. I can't help but feel this sword is important for some reason, but I can't find any mention of it in the Archives." Arvos shared. Alvya frowned as she handed the paper back.

"Maybe you should talk to master Jocasta or maybe master Yoda. They might know something. Is there anything else to this dream?" Alvya asked. Arvos rubbed his chin a bit.

"I've heard voices, but I haven't been able to make anything out." Arvos replied.

"Yeah, you should definitely speak to one of the Masters about these dreams. Having them over and over again to the point of being able to draw that sword with such detail isn't something you should ignore." Alvya advised before turning to head back to the group. Arvos folded up the paper and stowed it in his pocket before going to join the others. He made it just in time as Dulme returned to the room a few minutes later and cleared his throat to get their attention.

"I'd suggest changing into your cold weather gear. We're about to arrive on Ilum" Dulme informed the. Immediately the younglings began pulling on the aforementioned cold weather gear before lining up in front of the boarding ramp. The ramp hissed and began descending, allowing a rush of frigid air and snow to flood the room and causing the younglings to all cover their faces as they'd never experienced anything like this cold.

"Follow me and keep close! It's easy to get lost in this blizzard!" Dulme called to them over the howling blizzard. As they fought their way through the buffeting of the snow and wind, they eventually made it to a massive wall of ice.

"Our destination lies before us. Together now; reach out with the Force and open the gate." Dulme informed them before he reached out his hand and began to use the Force. The younglings followed Dulme's lead and were amazed to see the very landscape began to shift before their eyes. As it fell away, a massive temple entrance was revealed to them.

"Quickly now, inside! We need all the daylight we can get!" Dulme informed them before he strode up to the temple entrance. The younglings all hurried after him and through the door. As it shut behind them, they were greeted by the sight of Grand Master Yoda seated atop a broken ice stalagmite.

"Greetings, younglings. Welcome, to Ilum. A sacred place to the Jedi, this is." Yoda greeted the younglings, who murmured in awe of this place and of Yoda.

"The Force made physical, a Jedi is. Comes great responsibility with that, yes? Protect others, how does a Jedi, hmm?" Yoda asked them before producing his lightsaber, igniting the blade and showing it to the younglings.

"Build your own lightsaber, you shall. But first, harvest your crystal, each one of you must. Enter the crystal cave and retrieve it, you must." Yoda concluded before he stowed his lightsaber and using the Force to turn what looked like a chandelier of some kind before they realized that it was a massive crystal that was refracting the light into another crystal, which finally concentrated the beam into a massive sheet of ice on the far side of the room. Within moments, the ice had melted into water, which was now cascading down the stairs, revealing a massive doorway.

"Within the cavern, find your crystals, you will. However, make haste, you must. Else, be trapped until daylight, you shall be." Yoda informed them ominously.

"A full cycle on Ilum is equivalent to nineteen standard days. Should you fail to return before the entrance refreezes, there will be nothing anyone can do for you. You will be on your own until the next light." Dulme informed them.

"Now, begin." Yoda declared. The group hurried into the caves, as the ice began to creep down over the entrance. However, nothing could prepare one of them for what waited within for them; the first steps on a strange, but arduous journey. And it all started with two black stars…

* * *

**Well, that's where we'll end it for now! Yeah, I'm happier with this version so far. I'll be working on this on and off until I got enough for proper publishing, so it'll probably be a while before this is published (It's November 18****th**** 2019 right now) But it'll probably be a much shorter project than my other stuff.**

**Well, that's about it for now! Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Greetings! Here we are with chapter 2 of Twilight Blade!**

**Look, full stop, not sure what sort of bit I want to do here, so Ima just keep it simple and answer the reviews from last time, give the Discord password and get to work. So, here's the review responses:**

**FallenAssassin9: Why, thank you! There's gonna be a couple of small curveballs eventually, and... well... We'll get to Order 66 when we get to Order 66... poor dears...**

**Well, only the one review to start out with, but that's understandable. Only one chapter and crowded real-estate. **

**Well, with that out of the way, Discord password here: ****xtydzBf**

**And there we go! Now, allow me to proudly present chapter 2 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade!**

* * *

Going into this, Arvos knew that the Gathering would be no simple task. His research on every facet of lightsaber history and study he could get his hands on had led him back to this particular rite of passage a few times, thus he knew the basics of it, as well as had a leg up regarding knowledge of Ilum regarding its climate and hazards. However, much of what he had read made very conscious avoidance of any information about what actually transpired during the Gathering, aside from that it was when prospective Jedi would travel to Ilum to harvest the crystals for their first true lightsaber. He wasn't sure why that was, but he could hazard a few guesses as to why that was, the chief of them being that whatever tests they faced during this trial couldn't be prepared for.

"I knew Ilum was cold, but this is ridiculous!"

It had only been ten minutes and Arvos already wanted to smack Tala upside the head because of her constant complaining about the cold, though he held himself back since he'd likely be hurting himself due to the crown of horns on her head. Besides, it wasn't like she was wrong. Even with the cold-weather gear, he was still feeling the cold. It was better without the howling wind outside, but it was still cold enough that the cold air hurt his lungs. Plus, the novelty of being able to see his breath had rapidly worn off.

However, it seemed that he could possibly be spared more of Tala's complaints about the cold, as they reached a chamber with several pathways.

"I guess we should split up…" Alvya muttered as she examined the pathways.

"Okay, how do we decide which pathway we… go… down…" Arvos asked before his voice faded as he slowly stepped towards one of the tunnels, now looking incredibly distracted.

"Arvos? Hey, Arvos!" Tala called out to him before removing one of her gloves to snap her fingers in his face before pulling it back on. It at least got the desired effect, even if Tala's complaints about the cold escalated for a brief moment.

"Sorry about that. There's just something strange about that tunnel." Arvos said as he peered down it.

"I think your path forward is pretty obvious then." Garo replied before he turned and started walking towards his own tunnel.

"And where are you going?" Tala asked him.

"Well, I have no clue where my crystal is, so I'm picking a direction and trusting in the Force to guide me to it." Garo replied candidly as kept walking into the tunnel, his voice echoing slightly as he kept walking deeper into the icy caverns.

"Well, I guess that's the best any of us can do. I'll take this one." Tala decided before picking a tunnel of her own and striding into it. Alvya sighed as she looked around. She'd been hoping that they'd at least _try _to stick together, given the inhospitable nature of their surroundings, but she supposed that in the end, the Force would guide them to their crystals and that the path forward wouldn't necessarily be what they wished for. After taking a few moments to center herself, Alvya chose a path of her own and set off. They were on the clock, and she had no intentions of being trapped behind an ice wall for nineteen days because she took too long.

* * *

The path through his chosen cavern had been pretty boring for Arvos so far. A little bit winding, but nothing really out of the ordinary. There hadn't even been so much as a glimmer or any other sign of a single crystal yet, and he'd been wandering around in the tunnels for some twenty minutes now, by his estimate.

"I'd comment on how boring this is, but somehow I think Ilum would take it as a challenge." Arvos muttered. It appeared that the planet or the Force had been listening anyway though, as Arvos suddenly stopped himself as he realized that he was a step away from plummeting into the misty depths of an icy ravine.

"What did I just say?!" Arvos exclaimed, his voice echoing about the ravine. After making sure he wasn't going to slip into the ravine, Arvos began looking around. There had to be a way forward. Sure enough, there was another path on the other side of the ravine, but it was too far for him to jump, and he couldn't see any good footholds he could use to make a series of jumps across.

"Alright, so how do I get there…" Arvos muttered as he kept looking. There was a ledge around the ravine that he could technically stand on, but he wasn't very confident in the structural integrity of the ice, nor in his boots' ability to grip it. Still, he couldn't find any other way to get across, so he steeled his nerves and began to slowly inch his way across the ravine. It was slow-going, and there were a few moments of panic when he nearly lost his footing, but he managed to catch himself and took a few more moments to re-enter himself before he pressed onward, eventually making it to the side of the ravine and taking a moment to appreciate just that.

"And I have to do it again on the way back…" Arvos muttered as he started walking again. The caverns had darkened this far in, but he could still see the path ahead perfectly fine. What he _couldn't_ see was a crystal of any kind, and he was starting to wonder just what else he was going to be put through to retrieving the darn rock.

As it turned out, he could add climbing up about twenty feet of icy boulders, a feet that much like the ravine, would lead to his demise if he had an unfortunate misstep.

"Oh, come on… What's with death by ice and gravity?" Arvos complained to no one in particular as he began to carefully negotiate this latest obstacle.

"Wonder what other 'death by ice and gravity' traps Ilum's going to throw at me before the end of this." Arvos grunted as he carefully climbed up another boulder and started finding a good foothold so he could continue. At this point, he wasn't even terribly concerned about the lightsaber. By the time he'd reach the top of this pile of ice and rocks, he'd have risked falling to his death twice, and that wasn't even counting the possibility of death by cold. Success when the very planet seemingly wanted him dead would be a victory in and of itself, however petty. Arvos mentally slapped himself for that one. Thinking that way would just be _asking_ Ilum to pull out all the stops. And he did _not _need that right now.

After he finally hauled himself up to the top of the pile of boulders, Arvos immediately fell on his backside and caught his breath for a minute or two. Feeling rested enough, Arvos got to his feet and stared down the tunnel. It was much darker, but he still could see perfectly fine.

"Alright, Ilum. Let's see what waits at the end of this path." Arvos muttered before he pressed on, following the pathway into the unknown.

* * *

"I hate the cold, I hate it I hate it I hate it…"

Tala had been repeating her distaste for subzero temperatures for quite some time now. She hadn't been keeping track of how long she'd been walking, but it had been a while. She'd passed by a few glittering spots that indicated the existence of a crystal, none of them really _spoke _to her. So, she kept walking, and complaining about the cold.

"Come on, where are you?" Tala muttered as she rounded a corner, looking for her crystal. She wasn't even really sure what she was looking for. She'd been told that she would know what crystal was meant for her, but how would she know? She supposed it could just be intuition, which she could get behind. It was part of what made her the best duelist among the group of four. Her Zabrak heritage probably helped as well.

Suddenly, she noticed that something was different. Looking up, she realized she'd reached a large chamber that for some reason was blanketed with mist. It also had what looked like old, broken vibroswords and other such weapons laying on the ground, some embedded in the ground by their blades, others just lying discarded. There was even some armor pieces scattered on the ground as well, but they weren't quite as numerous as the weapons.

"What are these doing here?" She wondered aloud as she walked over to one of the swords. It was definitely old, as it had been designed with a crossguard, which was unheard of among modern designs.

"How long have these been here for?" She muttered as her hand lightly brushed the hilt of the sword. Almost immediately something started happening. Somehow, wind began to blow, and the room began to shake! The armor began to float into the air, and she watched in awe and horror as what looked like mummified ghosts materialized within the armor, their ethereal limbs reached down and pulled the weapons from the ground before they all turned to look at her. If she had felt cold before, her spine was frozen as the hollow, sunken eyes of these phantoms slowly stalked towards her. Tala turned to run, be she was now faced with the passage she'd walked through just a few minutes ago was now conspicuously absent. It wasn't a cave in, she could tell that much. It was as if the wall had just materialized out of thin air. But it couldn't have, could it?

The hollow snarling from the specters reminded her that she was now caged in with an obvious enemy, and that she was also currently without means of defending herself. Currently…

Tala turned and grabbed the sword she'd been examining moments earlier and yanked it out of the ground, holding it in front of her in a well practiced stance.

"I can do this. I can do this." Tala muttered to herself as the first ghost swung at her with a vibro axe, which she nimbly sidestepped before stabbing the ghost in the chest with her own weapon, causing it to vanish in a puff of mist, the armor and axe clattering harmlessly to the ground. Emboldened by her success, Tala deflected the next strike away from her and delivered stabbed the specter through before rolling out of the way of the next swing before swinging her blade upwards, cutting through yet another one.

Now that she had some breathing room, she turned to face the rest of the advancing ghosts and flourished her borrowed blade before taking up a ready stance, blade held in both hands while held to the left side of her head. The nearest phantoms reared their weapons and lunged forward, with Tala rushing forward to meet them, blade flashing as it whistled through the air, biting into the phantoms and reducing them to yet more mist. However, as time wore on and Tala cut down yet more ghosts, Tala realized that she was facing a big problem. Namely, that no matter how many ghosts she cut down, their numbers didn't seem to be diminishing. In fact, there seemed to be even more of them than when she started.

Scratch that, there was definitely more. And she was surrounded.

Tala flourished her blade again and frowned as she waited for the ghosts to get close enough to strike. However, that didn't change the fact that her odds of winning were dwindling by the second, and she needed to figure out how to get out of this, she was going to become a youngling that didn't return from Ilum's caves.

* * *

Alvya was beginning to wonder if she should have picked the pathway she had. She had yet to see a single crystal or even a hint that she was on the right track and was beginning to seriously consider backtracking and thinking of a new approach for locating her crystal. It'd been quite some time now though, and she didn't want to just turn around again, considering the limited time they had to get this done. Turning back would mean wasting precious seconds that she needed to find her crystal before the exit from the frozen caverns iced over, trapping them there for nineteen days.

"What do I do…" Alvya wondered before she reached a circular chamber. Looking around, she couldn't see any crystals, but she could see another tunnel on the far side of this little pocket. However, as she started to cross it, a bone-chilling crack resounded through the air, echoing about the room. It had originated from the ground beneath her. She slowly looked down to see that the floor was cracking beneath her, which was an obvious signal to bolt for the other side. However, before she could even make it a few steps, the ground below her crumbled away and she began tumbling through the air, surrounded by chunks of ice. Luckily, she managed to right herself and landed on her feet, one hand used to help keep herself upright. She didn't have the misfortune of having any ice land on her, save for a few stray shards that she could barely feel through the thick clothing that warded off the cold.

Looking around, Alvya wanted to employ a few words she'd heard masters use when they were certain no one else was listening but knew that it would do her no good in this situation. As it was, she couldn't jump to the top of the pit, nor did she have any confidence that she could scale the walls of the pit. Too much ice and no holds that she could see. Well, that wasn't necessarily the case. There were a few outcroppings that ascended out of the pit, but they were small enough that she wouldn't be able to just leap to one and pause. Besides, after the floor had collapsed on her, she wasn't going to trust that those prospective footholds would be structurally sound for very long. She needed time to think, to plan a route out of this pit.

"If I were to leap to that one… then there… no, not that way, I need to jump to…" Alvya began muttering as she pointed at various ledges for her to use, but she was interrupted by a familiar sound. It was subtle this time, but it was definitely the ice cracking again. Looking down, she could see hairline fractures in the ice. They were small, but she could see them growing with each passing second, the low, almost imperceptible groan of the breaking ice causing her own blood to run cold.

If she didn't get out of there now, it was very much possible the next fall could be her end.

Alvya quickly ran a route through her head and took the first leap. She reached her intended target, then turned to spot her next, jumping once she saw it. However, this one wasn't as graceful. Her footing wasn't solid when she landed, thus when she tried to make the third jump she ended up right back where she started, and with the added consequence of her impact accelerating the rate at which the ice was cracking. As Alvya got to her feet, she did a quick check to make sure that nothing was injured, aside from the bruising from her botched landing. Luckily, she had every confidence that she could manage the actual jumping. Making the jumps though, she was much more concerned about. She was on the clock and every failed attempt would accelerate it. At the current rate the ice was cracking, she couldn't believe she had more than a single attempt remaining.

If she didn't make it in her next attempt, she would never leave Ilum.

* * *

"Where are you, where are you…" Garo muttered as he methodically examined his surroundings, searching for any sign of a saber crystal. He'd opted to take a slower approach to his search, seeing as he'd come across a few caverns that contained crystals. However, after examining them, he concluded that none of them were meant for him and moved on to the next area.

"I hope the others are having more success than me." He said aloud as he finished examining another cluster of crystals before moving on to the next chamber.

"Well, this is new." Garo remarked as he looked a head. This chamber was longer and had a narrow ice bridge in the middle of it, flanked on both sides by a misty chasm. On the far side looked to be a small alcove of some kind, with a shimmering star resting in it. Above it was a craggy tunnel of some kind. Garo could hear what vaguely sounded like wind blowing out from the tunnel. He could feel it too. It was still cold, but its temperature was much warmer than that of the surrounding air. It was probably a vent of some kind that carried warmer air from further underground.

However, Garo was less concerned with that than he was with the shining light at the end of the ice bridge. He couldn't quite explain it, but he felt like it was…calling to him. However, as he began to cross the bridge, the ground began to rumble and the air blowing from the tunnel suddenly became a roaring wind that was so powerful, he began skidding backwards across the ice bridge! After falling on his backside due to the sudden change from slippery ice to chilled stone, Garo got to his feet and frowned. The wind had died down once he had been forced off the bridge.

"That was… strange…" Garo muttered as he got to his feet and started slowly trying to cross the bridge again. The rumbling resumed and Garo braced himself as the rush of air began forcing him back again. Luckily, he managed to avoid falling over this time. Still, it was reasonable to assume that the wind was going to start blowing the moment he attempted to cross again, which meant that crossing the ice bridge wasn't going to work, so far as Garo could tell.

"Well, time for plan B." Garo decided as he extended his hand out towards the crystal, reaching out with the Force. If he couldn't get to the crystal, then bring the crystal to him. Sound in theory, but reality didn't seem to disagree. The crystal didn't budge, or even give any indication that he had a grasp of any kind on it. For all he could tell, Garo was 'grasping' at empty air. After relinquishing his non-existent hold, Garo began pacing as he tried to figure out what to do next.

"Okay, I can't use the Force to bring it to me, so that means I have to go to it. The question now becomes how I get across…?" Garo muttered to himself as he began to examine the room again. If he couldn't cross the bridge, he needed to find another way across. Unfortunately, he couldn't see another way across. The gap was too far to jump across, there were no additional platforms or proverbial checkpoints he could use to make it across the chasm. In fact, the only way that Garo could see to get across the chasm was across the ice bridge, but that wouldn't work since that vent would just unleash another gust of wind without fail, that would force him all the way back to the other side of the bridge.

All in all, it was a scenario that Garo could see no way to negotiate. Crossing the bridge was out, going around the bridge was out, and near as he could tell, crossing the chasm was the only way forward.

"What do I do…?" Garo wondered aloud, his voice laced with worry. There had to be a way forward. His crystal was on the other side of that chasm, he knew that. If he couldn't make it across, he'd be forced to either stay in Ilum's caves until he could retrieve it, or he'd have to return empty handed.

"What do I do?" He asked aloud once more. And still, he had no clue.

* * *

**And that's where we'll leave it for now! Man, feels good to get back in the groove!**

**Creativity: No kidding! Bet that 'Duel' TV spot helped.**

**Author: Oh man, that music was GODLIKE! And then YouTube rose to the occasion and brought me a rendition of the trailer music by one Samuel Kim! Seriously, go check out that video, it is magic.**

**So, I'm about a week out from exam season resuming, so, hopefully I'll have a ton of stuff to throw your way by then. Might not mean much to you now, considering we're still a ways out from publishing, but I figured I'd include it anyway.**

**Well, that's enough from us for now! Thanks for reading, please review, hope to see you in Discord and we'll see you next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Good day to you all, and welcome to chapter 3 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade! **

**Creativity: We're feeling refreshed and re-energized after our little break, and we're ready to kick some ass! **

**Author: Indeed! **

**Now then, I'm **_**hoping**_** to have this ready for the release of Rise of Skywalker, since my Discord server recommended I put together three chapters as an appetizer and given how close the impending release of the final installment of the sequel trilogy. I figured now would be as good a time as any to get this story out there, even it it'll probably go untouched for semi-long strings of time. **

**Creativity: That's just what happens when you have no project management skills. Like us!**

**Author: We did overreach a bit with all of these, didn't we…**

**Anyway, let's get to the review response. That's what I would say, but there's new reviews! So, now I just look silly!**

**And with that out of the way, let us start the chapter! **

**Creativity: Oh, but first, Discord server password: ****xtydzBf**

**Author: Good catch. Alright, **_**now **_**new chapter. We now proudly present chapter 3 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade!**

* * *

Arvos was cold. Arvos was tired. Arvos could see no end to this trial of endurance that the world of Ilum was putting him through.

Ever since he had finished climbing up to the top of that pile of boulders, it had been a suspiciously straight walk through the tunnels of Ilum. No curves, no sudden drops, not so much as a convenient patch of ice for him to slip on, and Arvos was starting to get suspicious. After all of this, he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It was going to happen, and he knew it. When that was, he didn't know, nor did he have a clue as to what sort of trial of ice and gravity he'd be confronted with. But still, he knew it was going to happen. He just knew it.

"Come on, Ilum. You're starting to make really nervous." Arvos muttered as he kept his march forward until he realized that the air was starting to become pretty thick with fog… underground…

"Well, this can't be good." Arvos muttered as he stepped back. It was safer to assume that the fog wasn't something that was meant to be breathed in. However, given how thick and soupy the fog was, Arvos couldn't even begin to guess how long it would take to get through it, and he wasn't confident he could hold his breath all the way through it. So, how did he get through it?

After a few moments of consideration, Arvos smacked the side of his head.

"Hello _obvious_ solution." He muttered to himself (a little annoyed that he hadn't figured it out sooner) before he closed his eyes and reached out with both hands, using the Force to push the fog back. Seeing his success, he immediately began marching forward, continuing to push the fog further down the tunnel. He'd made it a good ten feet before fate played a cruel joke. As it turned out, there was a sudden incline that Arvos hadn't noticed in his concentration, though he did notice when his footing vanished and he slipped, landing on his rear and began to slalom down through the catacombs of Ilum.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE I FELL FOR IT!" Arvos shouted in anger and terror as he continued to be tossed this way and that by the twisting, icy tunnel and gravity. The insanity went on for an additional minute before the tunnel levelled out and he was spat out into open air before crashing to the cold, hard ground. Arvos groaned as he slowly got to his feet and looked around. The room was large, domed and remarkably smooth. It was incredibly dark, but it was dimly lit by carvings in the walls and ceiling. The carvings were strange, depicting what looked like someone at a forge, hammer in hand in several carvings, as well as several carvings of crystals. However, what most drew Arvos' attention was the carving of someone holding a sword aloft. While lacking in detail, the weapon in the carving bore a remarkable semblance to the weapon he'd seen in his dreams of late.

"I can't imagine that was a coincidence…" Arvos muttered as he looked around more. Situated a few feet away from the back wall was some sort of structure, shaped roughly like an obelisk, but hollow. Around it were four pillars that had carvings of their own on them, though they looked to be purely decorative and not depicting anything. The pillars had large crystals inside frames situated atop them, which Arvos immediately wanted to try and take, but stopped himself. While they appeared to be crystals that were technically compatible with a lightsaber, they were definitely too large, and he wasn't confident in the possibility of chipping a piece off to use as his saber crystal. Of course, that all ignored the fact that he just didn't feel any connection to the crystals. But then, why was he here? This room was a dead end as far as he could tell.

With nothing better to do, Arvos approached the structure at the center of the room and began examining it. It too was covered in carvings, though they were harder to make out. Stranger still, these ones were actually letters and words instead of pure decoration and depictions of something to do with this chamber.

"_From the Force came this Forge, from this Forge comes the Force…_ What does that mean?" Arvos muttered as he read the inscription. He wished he'd done more reading on topics other than the broad category of 'lightsaber' in his spare time. It might have (very possibly) helped in deciphering what this message was about. Then it stuck him. He _had _read about something like this in the Temple!

In old times, it wasn't uncommon for Jedi to use special forges to create lightsaber crystals, though they weren't considered to have the same efficacy as naturally harvested ones. The quality usually varied by Force user and the specific forge in question, but on balance it was considered more 'proper' to travel to Ilum or another world that produced saber crystals and harvest one there.

Additionally, some of these forges could be dangerous, especially ones that were originally constructed by the Sith. Those ones had been designed to torture the user of the forge as they made the crystals for their weapons.

And that was what was resting before him; an ancient crystal forge. An archaic device said to be able to channel the Force and create a lightsaber crystal from the ether.

"After all of the hoops I jumped through to get here, now I have to operate an old, probably on the verge of breaking down device to manually create my crystal?! Man, Ilum must really have it out for me…" Arvos muttered as he began trying to recall how forges worked. As he recalled, the user had to channel the Force into the machine and manually operate it as they controlled the energies within, ensuring that the power wasn't set too low, which would lead to an unfinished, malformed and useless crystal, or that the power didn't run to high, which would lead to the would-be crystal being completely destroyed. This would be a long and arduous process, taking easily multiple hours.

He should have turned back, tried to find his way back out the tunnel, sought out a crystal elsewhere. But Arvos didn't. He couldn't. The Force had brought him here for a reason, and he didn't believe it was to die, or to turn back when he'd made it all this way. This is where he would find his crystal; by using this ancient device to forge it himself.

Arvos returned to the center of the chamber and lowered himself onto his knees, hands in his lap as he closed his eyes.

"The Force is with me." He recited to himself, as if in prayer. He could sense the ancient device beginning to stir. His eyes opened a bit and he could see the carvings on the device, the pillars, even those in the chamber all beginning to glow brighter, the color shifting constantly and fluidly. The crystals atop the pillars began to glow brightly as the hollow space within the device began to glow and the air rippled with heat. Suddenly, beams shot out of the four pillars and into the space, concentrated in them middle.

Arvos let his eyes close again and continued to focus on the task at hand. He only had one chance at that this, perhaps not even that if he died before the process was completed. But he had faith. The Force had guided him to this place, and he believed that it would guide him to success and a return to coruscant, alive and with a crystal in hand.

His last thought before he threw himself into the task at hand was to wonder how his friends were handling their trials.

* * *

Tala had decided that there was something new about Ilum that she disliked more than the cold. It was ghosts. Specifically, it was ghosts that could somehow wear armor and wield weapons, and also didn't seem to understand the concept of _staying down!_ She must have cut down two, maybe three dozen of the ethereal soldiers and yet they never seemed to stay down for very long.

Worse still was that she was getting tired. The old vibrosword was growing heavier in her hands and her strikes and blocks were becoming sloppier with every passing moment. Sooner or later, she was going to mess up and then she'd be dead, and she knew it. Her desperation was becoming visible through her swings and parries and the fear becoming visible in her eyes. Her legs screamed in protest as she rolled out of the way of a strike before the screaming began in her arms as she whirled around and slashed the blade through the wielder of the offending weapon. However, she found herself kicked in the ribs and sent flying back, coughing and holding her side in pain.

With a grunt, Tala used the blade to prop herself up and pried it out of the ground and held it at the ready. The contingent of phantoms advanced forward slowly, shuffling towards her and eyes fixed upon her own. Some of them dragged their weapons along the ground, making loud scraping noises as they advanced. Tala slowly steadied her breath as she waited for them to reach her; a task that was proving a lot harder than anticipated since she was completely exhausted. And no matter what she did, where or how she struck, there was no way for her to finish off the phantoms. They just kept returning over and over and over again. Even as she tried otherwise, she knew that she couldn't keep this up.

But then, what was the point of all this? Was she not meant to be a Jedi? Was it her fate to be killed here by these wraiths?

No, she couldn't believe that. There was a way forward, she was sure of it. But then, what could it be? It was fairly obvious that she couldn't fight her way out of this. But then, what else could she do?

"_Maybe… Maybe I don't fight my way out…"_ Tala thought as she watched the approaching horde of ghosts before she began to slowly lower her weapon. She couldn't fight her way out, so why keep trying to? Instead, Tala slowly turned the weapon and held it with the blade facing the ground and jabbed it into the ice before she took a meditative stance in front of it. She closed her eyes and ignored the approaching ghosts. Instead, she let herself be at peace before she opened her eyes and looked up. The ghosts were almost on top of her. Suddenly, there was a loud _whoosh_ and they all rushed forward as a mass of fog, a rasping gasp of air sounding between them all. Tala closed her eyes as the wind and mist rushed past her and when she opened them, it was all gone. The armor, the weapons, even the sword she had been kneeling before had vanished into thin air, leaving her alone in the caverns of Ilum. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her muscles still burned, and she could feel the sweat on her brow that quickly chilled as it was exposed to the cold air.

However, her attention fell away from all of that as she noticed something at the far end of the room. Something she hadn't noticed before. Within a small alcove was a glittering crystal. She was drawn to it, almost magnetically before she finally got close enough and reached out to it. She could feel it. This was _her_ crystal.

Tala carefully plucked it from the ice that surrounded it and admired it. The crystal was an icy blue in color, a bit roughly formed but with no cracks or other surface-level flaws.

She clutched it tight to her chest as she turned to leave, finding that the tunnel that she had entered through, that had mysteriously _vanished_ when the ghost horde had appeared, had suddenly reappeared as if it had never left.

"I don't know what I was expecting…" Tala muttered as she began her long trek out of the caves. All she knew for certain was that she didn't want to come back to Ilum ever again if she could avoid it. There was a long list of reasons why she didn't want to come back, but there was one thing that topped them all.

It was too _kriffing _cold!

* * *

Garo paced back in forth in front of the ice bridge. He'd tried everything that he could think of that _wouldn't_ result in a painful death at the bottom of an icy chasm, but he'd been unable to come up with anything. The air from the vent always blasted him back whenever he'd attempt to cross the bridge. He'd have tried a running jump on the bridge, but he wasn't so desperate as to risk compromising its structural integrity like that.

He just couldn't figure it out. There was a solution, he was confident in that. He just couldn't figure out what the solution was, and it was maddening! He had no means of going around the vent and the only means of crossing offered him no traction against the howling gale it unleashed when he tried to cross it.

So, what was the solution? There wasn't some hidden one so far as he could tell. The only solution he could see was to somehow brute force his way across the bridge, but such a solution wasn't the Jedi way, at least to him. The Jedi way was only to resort to a 'brute force' method when there was no other recourse, and to otherwise approach a situation with diplomacy or to find a more 'creative' way out.

"Even if I tried to 'brute force' my way through, what kind of 'brute force' solution do I use? I have no traction on the bridge and nothing to really grab onto… Wait… Could it be that simple?" Garo muttered to himself before he turned back to the bridge. He thought about it again. In theory, it should work. He couldn't be sure, but it was the best he had.

Reaching out with the Force as he once more stepped onto the ice bridge, Garo sought to grab onto not the crystal, but the far wall instead. The instant his foot touched the bridge, Garo could hear the rumbling of the incoming rush of air to push him back off the bridge. He kept walking as far as he could though as he tightened his 'grip' on the far wall, pulling himself towards it as best he could. He grit his teeth as the howling wind persisted, but he could feel his grip slowly slipping. He was pushed back once again, but this time there was something different. He could feel the wind petering out _before _he'd been pushed off the bridge. That told him something very important; that the wind had a limit, that he could outlast it. And the way to do that was to plant himself in front of that wind and outlast it.

It was simple, but still difficult. He'd been forced back the winds many times already and was more than familiar with their strength. To cross this bridge and claim his crystal, he needed to be stronger.

Garo turned and walked back a short distance before he stopped and took a moment to center himself. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning around and opening his eyes. Before him lay his obstacle. On the other side of it was his goal. Garo dug one foot in before taking off at a run once more before his feet hit the ice and he began to slide. Immediately he reached out with the Force and grabbed hold of the wall. He braced as the wind began to rush towards him. He made it about two thirds of the way across before the buffeting wind brought him to a halt. Yet, his grip remained firm. He reached out with both hands as he felt himself slowly begin to slide back, feeling himself come to a stop. He grit his teeth as he used the Force and his grip on the far wall to plant himself to that spot. He would not yield to the wind this time, no matter the strain.

And strain he did. His grip nearly slipped once or twice, but he managed to hold on despite it. And through it all, he could feel the winds weakening. After a few more agonizing moments, the winds died and Garo was suddenly thrown forward, or more accurately _thrown _forward without the wind to counterbalance his pull. He groaned as he got up and brushed the snow off his face, chest and pants before he realized that he was indeed on the other side of the cavern and, more importantly, was only a few feet away from the crystal. Garo walked towards the alcove and slowly reached inside, pulling the crystal from within. It was beautiful, faceted as if cut by a professional. It was a deep blue, perhaps a shade darker than what he'd initially expected, but this was indeed _his _crystal. Clutching it tightly, Garo carefully crossed the ice bridge whence he came and began his trek back to the entrance. This was one more step of many on his path to becoming a Jedi.

* * *

Ilum was cold. This was a known, indisputable fact. You came to Ilum, you were in for near constant snowstorms and possible, even probable frostbite if you didn't find shelter quickly. And that was if you got off _really_ easy.

So, it was incredibly paradoxical that the room that Arvos Moro was currently sweating buckets as the temperature of the room was at ridiculously high levels. Arvos had already shed his heavy coat; a task that had been much harder than one might think, given that he still had to maintain control of the forge to complete his crystals, but that too had proven insufficient as he was now slowly shedding his sweat soaked tunic underneath, leaving his torso completely exposed to the elements. In the light of the Forge, his skin glistened as large drops rolled off his forehead, evaporating on the stone below shortly after contact.

And yet, Arvos did not stop. He dutifully tended to the task at hand, maintaining the concentrated energy at the heart of the device that was slowly but surely coalescing into his saber crystal. He took deep breaths and tried to regulate his body temperature and the temperature of the air around him as best he could, but it did him little good. He'd just have to endure it until the Forge was done its work.

While this wasn't a Sith-designed crystal forge, it certainly wasn't a Jedi-designed one either. Sith-designed forges were designed to be torturous, to kill any users that were 'unworthy' of their use. However, they historically worked faster than Jedi ones. While Jedi forges weren't as efficient as efficient as Sith forges, they were also far less likely to end in a painful death, which would only occur if the operator was supremely thick and didn't exercise ANY restraint or control of the device. It spoke to the differing ideologies of the Jedi and Sith. While a Jedi forge tested the operator's patience and clarity of mind, a Sith forge tested the operator's strength of will and ability to cope with intense pain.

This forge was both, and yet not quite either. It was arduous to be sure, and the heat Arvos was being subjected to certainly made it all the more arduous, it wasn't torture in the way that Sith forges were.

Arvos took a deep breath, ignoring the way his lungs protested against the hot, heavy and dry air. He had to stay focused. His task was nearing its end. That much he could feel. He simply needed to endure the heat and exhaustion a little while longer, and he'd be leaving these caverns, crystal in hand.

* * *

Alvya frantically scanned the numerous outcroppings that were all that stood between her and certain death. She'd been trying to plot a route out of the deathtrap she'd fallen into, but she'd always come to a proverbial dead-end or start second-guessing the route, causing her to toss out her previous plan and beginning again. However, she was all to aware that her time to escape was dwindling away, and quite audibly at that, as cracks continued to spread across the floor, slowly and loudly.

"alright, the first three jumps are good, I know that. But it gets significantly harder than that. What if I did a pivot and leap there, a backwards… no, that won't work! I can't jump _that _far! What if I, no I already thought of that and it won't work either! Maybe… GAHH!"

Alvya let out an angry shout as she slammed her hand into the icy wall. She couldn't do it. She couldn't find a way out. She couldn't conceive of a single route that could even get her to the top of the sinkhole! She'd always prided herself in her forethought. In exercises back at the temple, she could always identify the path to success, be that a pattern to an obstacle course or training droid movement, or the strategy and/or habits exhibited by her peers during spars. It's why she was very narrowly beating out Arvos for the title of second best duelist in their group.

But now, now she was faced with a problem that for the life of her, she could not figure out. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't be handling this well. However, now that her life was depending on it, she was downright terrified. She'd always been able to rely on her mind, and now if was failing her.

"What do I do…?" Alvya murmured, almost a sob as she tried desperately to find a way out. The ice was going to give away any minute and unless she was at least on her way to the top of the sinkhole, she was dead. No two ways about it. She needed to get out, but she couldn't. Not through the way she was used to anyway.

Alvya was just about ready to give up when something clicked. She couldn't think her way out of this, so she wouldn't think her way out. She didn't have time to think. She needed to act. She needed to take a leap of faith.

"Trust in the Force." She realized, though in the end it went a bit deeper than that.

Alvya only had one opportunity left and no time to think about it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she crouched down and leapt into the air. Her foot touched the first outcropping. Instantly her muscles were coiling to spring again. Alvya leapt to the next foothold. And the next, and the next. The whole time, her eyes were closed. The only thing she felt was wind, her motion through the air, her feet against ice and stone and most of all, the Force guiding her to her destination.

Before she knew it, Alvya was clear of the sinkhole and in the tunnel she'd been attempting to run to before the floor fell through. Shortly after she'd made it up, she heard the final groans of the fractured ice before it shattered and fell further into the depths of Ilum. Alvya breathed a sigh of relief as she turned and began to walk down the tunnel, feeling a bit lightheaded from her brief brush with death.

Still, she was out of the pit now, and that was what mattered. Now she just needed to… find… her crystal.

Alvya paused. She wasn't sure why, but her attention was being drawn to her left. She turned and saw it. Amid a cluster of glittering spots was a shimmering green star. Her hand unconsciously reached out to it and carefully pried it from its icy prison.

"And where were you hiding all this time." She murmured as she admired the crystal, turning it over in her hand and examining the faceting.

"Well, I suppose I should get out here. Wonder how I'm going to get back across the… pit… Where's the pit?"

Sure enough, the pit she had fallen down and had escaped just moments ago, but seemingly after the she had gone around _one bend,_ it had vanished into thin air, as if it had never existed. Not intending to fall (ha ha) for it twice, Alvya carefully tapped on the ice with her foot. It didn't give any hint that it was going to break, so Alvya took a few steps back and broke into a full on sprint, clearing the ice as fast as possible. There wasn't even so much as a hairline fracture.

"I never want to come back here again…" Alvya muttered as she continued on her way back to the exit from Ilum's caverns.

* * *

It was nearly done. It had to be. He couldn't last much longer.

Arvos was reaching his limit. The temperature was too much to withstand and he was certain he had burns or blisters starting to appear on his exposed skin. He was immensely dehydrated, and he was pretty sure that he was going to pass out if he didn't stop soon.

However, despite how delirious he was becoming (or perhaps even because of it), he could sense that the Forge had just about completed the crystal within. Oh _kriff, _why wouldn't it end?!

Suddenly, as if it had heard his thoughts, Arvos realized that the Forge had indeed finished its task. He immediately released the mechanism and the Forge went quiet, the large crystals that powered it went cold and dead once again. There was a rush of cold air as the Forge's constant billowing heat was now absent. The frigid air felt almost magical to Arvos, who fell to his hands and knees, gasping for breath the moment he released his hold on the mechanism. He tried to get up, but he hadn't recovered enough. Instead, he dragged himself to the device and reached inside to remove the prize that lay within. Though, much to his surprise and initial horror, it turned out to be _prizes_. When he felt two objects in his hand, he'd believed that the crystal had broken during the process. However, that turned out to not be the case, and he instead found himself in possession of a pair of completely opaque crystals. Unlike the other common crystals of the Jedi lightsaber, these ones were black as space and weren't transparent at all.

"Strange…" Arvos muttered to himself before he realized that the air was turning much colder than he was comfortable with. He hadn't noticed since he was still recovering from the intense heat of the forge. After pulling his shirt and winter gear back on he began his long trek back, his steps shaky and off-balance. However, his fists clutched the pair of crystals in his hand. After all of this, he was going to get out of this icy cavern with these crystals that he'd just about _killed _himself for, or so help him he was going to find a way to bore down into the depths of Ilum to find the cackling imp that had no doubt been tormenting him this whole time.

"Jeez, I think I'm starting to lose it." Arvos muttered hoarsely to himself, not even realizing that the ice chute he'd emerged from was gone, and that he was walking down a straight, unchallenging hallway.

* * *

"Just made it!"

"You got your crystals? Lemme see!"

"What's going on with your face? Is that windburn?"

Three younglings had returned to entrance to Ilum's crystal caverns, greeted by master Yoda and padawan Dulme. However, they were quick to realize that not all was quite right.

"Wait… Where's Arvos?" Alvya realized, causing them all to start looking back to the tunnel. There was several long moments of concern and feeling unsure before they saw something slowly emerging from the dark depths of the caverns that they recognized as the missing padawan, filling them with relief. That was until they saw him more clearly.

He was dragging his feet across the ground, staggering as if he'd been walking for days on end. His face was caked with cold sweat and his eyes were unfocused and drifting. He was so close to being out. So close, but before they could even react, he collapsed to the ground a few feet from the entrance, which just finished freezing shut before their very eyes.

The panic in their eyes was palpable. Even Dulme and Yoda looked concerned, as Yoda immediately began marching over to the entrance as he reached out his hand and made a grabbing gesture, causing the ice wall to suddenly break and fly towards him before it stopped. Dulme was already in the caverns as soon as the way was clear, checking Arvos' pulse and trying to determine what had happened to him.

"He's alive. He's breathing and his heart is still beating. We need to get fluids in him; he's incredibly dehydrated." Dulme reported as he hefted the youngling up. Yoda eyed him carefully. It wasn't uncommon for younglings to return from the caverns winded, even exhausted. However, to be brought to the brink like this? That was rare. Exceedingly so, in fact.

"Is he gonna survive back to the ship?" Tala asked nervously. Dulme nodded.

"He might need a few extra layers, but he'll definitely make it. He'll be off his feet for a while though. And I imagine that master Yoda will want to talk to him about what exactly happened in there." Dulme answered calmly. Indeed, Yoda wanted to have a discussion with this youngling at the earliest convenience.

As the turned to leave however, master Yoda couldn't help but notice one of the younglings glancing back and forth between unconscious one and himself.

"Something to say, have you, youngling? Hmm?" Yoda asked the youngling in question.

"I'm sorry master Yoda. My name is Alvya Geran. It's just… Arvos wanted to speak to you after the Gathering." Alvya quickly explained.

"Oh? Wished to speak to me, hmm? What about, did he say?" Yoda asked as his ears perked up a bit.

"He's been having strange dreams lately and he wanted to get your advice on them." Alvya explained, though she felt a bit guilty for doing so. It was Arvos who should have shared that, not her.

"Hmmm… Well, speak to him, I shall. Much to discuss, there is now." Yoda answered before he began making his way back to his own ship. Alvya hurried after the rest of the younglings. Despite the scare at the end, it seemed they had all done it. They had harvested their crystals and completed the Gathering.

Now the next step would be to construct their first lightsabers.

* * *

**And that's where we'll end it for today! WAAAY longer than I had initially anticipated, but I feel it turned out pretty good.**

**So, I'm writing these closing notes LITERALLY after having seen the The Rise of Skywalker, and I gotta say that I really liked it! I can see why others won't, but I think they did a good job. I do have a few notes, that I will probably discuss at the end of a chapter in future once people have had a chance to see the movie.**

**Well, not much else to say here. Hope you enjoyed, please review, I hope to see you on Discord and I'll see you next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone, and welcome to chapter 4 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade! This is the last chapter I start before the New Year and New Decade begins (literally under two hours) so, let's just get into it!**

**Creativity: Let's start with the reviews:**

**FallenAssassin9: Thanks for your words on the challenges. I thought I'd lean more into the mystic side of things for a couple of the trials. And yeah, I was a bit concerned about the trial solutions, but in the end I think they were no more obvious than the solutions that the younglings in TCW and Ezra from Rebels had. As for the Forge, well, it won't take that long for us to get to that, so look forward to it.**

**Creativity: Well, relatively. We're going to be publishing less stuff now since we're getting back into College and we've got a bunch of other projects.**

**Author: And that's the reviews covered!**

**Oh, and one more thing I've decided to start doing is a story recommendation on a per-chapter basis! How this will work is I pick a story in the same category as the story that I'm updating and recommend it. Nice and Simple! So, this week's recommendation is Will of the Empire By: CzarZelinsky. I won't spoil the premise or anything here, but I can say that so far it's got me hooked like a fish. The dialog is a treat, the premise is intriguing and overall it's really well put together so far. Go check it out.**

**Well, not much else to say until the end, so let's just provide the Discord password and begin:** **xtydzBf**

**And now, without further ado, allow us to proudly present chapter 4 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade!**

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Arvos maintained his steady stare as he slowly circled, his unsettling black lightsaber clutched in both hands and held just to the right of his head. Across from him was Tala Mair, her own blade in a similar position to Arvos'. The different between them was that Arvos' blade was perpendicular to the ground while Tala's was parallel to it. It was a more aggressive stance than Arvos' own, but still offering plenty of defensive options.

Like himself and the rest of their group, Tala was sixteen now and had changed a bit in the four years since the Gathering. She was now five feet five inches tall and had more defined muscle from her training. As was mandatory by the pact the Zabraki of the Republic had made with the Jedi Order, she returned to her homeworld of Iridonia once her horns had grown in properly to undergo the Zabraki rite of passage and receive her facial tattoos. Additionally, she'd grown her hair out a little bit, adding two stripes of hair to her head the ran from her forehead to the back of her head that joined the main stripe that was tied back in the same wolf's tail that she'd always had, only longer. She'd also changed her normal outfit from the standard dress of Jedi younglings to a form-fitting black shirt with sleeves just an inch shy of her elbows, a brown sleeveless vest over her shirt, tight dark brown leggings, black fingerless gloves, brown boots and a light brown belt with a silver buckle. She'd also mellowed out a bit as time had gone on, though she still was the best duelist of the group.

Arvos had changed too, though perhaps more subtly. He stood five feet six inches tall and had maintained the same haircut from four years ago. He too had opted for a more personalized wardrobe in the form of a dark gray shirt that went down about an inch past his elbows, a short-sleeved light gray tunic over the shirt, pants the same color as the tunic, black boots and a black belt with a silver buckle.

The two Jedi hopefuls continued to circle each other, waiting for the other to make a move. The spar had been going on for a few minutes now, and both were tiring out. These next moments would decide the match.

Tala made the first move, lunged forward and going for a thrust that Arvos sidestepped before going to strike at Tala's exposed back, only for her to roll out of the way and whirl around, going for a slash at Arvos' legs. He performed a sideways cartwheel before returning to a high-guard position as Tala rushed him. The two engaged in a flurry of strikes before engaging in a saber lock. The two never broke eye contact throughout the whole engagement as they tried to push the other off balance. Suddenly, Arvos sensed a small imbalance in their saber lock. Unfortunately, it seemed Tala had noticed it too, and was swifter to capitalize on it. She applied new pressure, tailored towards the imbalance, allowing her to take control of the engagement and shove Arvos' blade to the side before going for the finishing blow! Arvos risked it and leapt into the air, straight over Tala and rolled away, knowing better than to try and go for a strike of his own. It was a good thing too, as he heard Tala's saber narrowly miss him, striking the ground a few inches away from his ankles. After he recovered, he blocked Tala's next attack with a high guard and pressed forward, shoving her blade up and going for a strike at her chest. She blocked and now it was Arvos forcing her back with a string of strikes. However, Tala had a smirk on her face. Too late, Arvos realized she'd won as she grabbed his arm and dragged her foot back, which knocked his foot out from under him and sent him tumbling onto his rear, with a blue lightsaber blade held in front of his face.

"Well done! The spar is over."

Tala shut off her lightsaber and helped Arvos to his feet.

"You did good there. You might have actually beaten me if you hadn't handicapped yourself back there." Tala told him as they walked out of the sparring ring and back to the seats.

"Does that mean you didn't _actually _win?" He jabbed, leading to a Tala responding with a jab of her own, that being a jab of her elbow to Arvos' ribs.

"I've beaten you plenty of times before when you had both and you know it." She reminded him. Arvos rolled his eyes.

"And I've also beaten you plenty of times. Score's still 22 to 24" Arvos countered, only for Tala to scoff.

"Yeah. In my favor." She gloated, though it was all in good fun. As they returned to their seats, Alvya gestured to them as she held up a lightsaber identical to Arvos' own. Arvos raised his hand and used the Force to call it back to him before he belted it opposite its twin.

"I thought you had her right up until the end." Alvya commented as the human and Zabrak sat down in between Alvya and Garo, the latter of which had his eyes fixed on the next pair heading down to the ring for their sparring match.

"Look, if I'm being honest… he kind of did." Tala admitted, causing Tala's, Arvos' and Garo's eyes all to turn to her in surprise.

"Wait, what?! I thought you'd been baiting me into that from the start!" Arvos exclaimed in a hushed tone as the next pair went up to spar.

"That was entirely improvised. I realized you were about to overwhelm me halfway through the exchange and had to completely change my footwork to be able to get a trip in like that." Tala explained.

"You were saying about a handicap?" Arvos prodded, only to earn himself another elbow in the ribs. Perhaps Tala hadn't quite mellowed out all that much after all. They'd changed all changed in subtle ways since the Gathering, though it was a little less subtle with Garo.

The male twi-lek had grown considerably taller and burlier to boot, standing five feet nine inches tall. He'd stuck to the traditional Jedi garb of beige tunic and pants for his usual wear, though he had added a pair of bracelets to his left wrist. They were made of wooden beads that, according to him, came from the world he was born on, though not necessarily of twi-lek origin. He also now sported a spattering of scars on his left arm, courtesy of… the bombing. Garo had experienced a great deal of mixed fortune that day. He'd been close enough to the explosion to be caught up in the carnage, but he'd been far enough away to get away relatively unscathed, save for the scarring on his left arm from a window that had shattered and caused numerous lacerations. The event had changed him in ways that had the rest of the group worried for quite some time. He became more withdrawn, quiet.

Alvya had undergone perhaps the most dramatic change of all of them in terms of attire. She wore a black undershirt with sleeves down to her wrists as well as black leggings, a loose brown tunic that only had one shoulder and a sleeve that came down to just above her elbow, and brown pants to match. She also occasionally wore a light gray robe with long, billowing sleeves that reached down to just a little past the black undershirt, though she wasn't wearing it now. She only wore it when they had to leave the temple or for formal situations within the temple. She'd received as a gift from an older padawan she'd known for quite some time and had passed their trials a little over one standard year ago as a gesture of good luck.

Additionally, she'd done her long hair up in a braid to keep it out of her face when they were doing physical training.

They watched the remaining pairs duel, occasionally answering questions when called upon before the class was over and they had to leave. Arvos thought he heard whispers for a moment but dismissed it as just his imagination. At this point, he was so used to hearing whispers about his strange lightsabers that he'd started to hear the hushed tones of other prospective Jedi as talk about his weapons, when it was just as likely something else entirely.

They used to bother him, but not so much anymore. He'd stopped caring after six standard months of the whispers, which had started when he'd constructed his first lightsaber. The onyx blade had immediately drawn attention to himself from his fellow younglings, as well as more than a few knights and especially Arvos' teachers. The blade's color didn't draw attention for just its rarity or unsettling appearance. The color had association with the ancient Sith, with the only known Jedi to have wielded such a blade being the Mandalorian-borne Tarre Visla. The black blades had been the subject of quite a bit of youngling gossip, at least for a while, with some wondering where he'd acquired such strange crystals, some wondering if perhaps he was fated to fall to the Dark Side like Count Dooku, but as Arvos continued to prove himself in his studies, and the fact that for all their suspicion and probing, Arvos never once displayed anything other than mild frustration when said gossip reached his ears, they did their best to put the rumor mongering to an end. Or at least they tried. It wasn't purged entirely, but Arvos didn't make a fuss either way. After all, he understood their concerns. He'd had the same when he'd first seen the crystals himself.

Unfortunately, before the rumors had died down there'd been similar concerns from a few of Arvos' instructors, who brought their concerns to the Jedi Council, who were surprised and slightly concerned about the development. Well, all but one. Master Yoda had seen the crystals and questioned Arvos how he came into possession of them. When Arvos revealed that he'd used an ancient Forge to create them, per his trial on Ilum, Yoda asked to examine the crystal and the saber that housed it. Afterwards, Yoda assured Arvos that nothing was wrong and returned to the council. After that, while there was still occasional concern from the instructors, the council was the least concerned about Arvos. One day, just after they finished a lesson with master Yoda, the grand master of the order pulled Arvos aside and removed something from within his robe. It was a wooden sphere, about the size of thermal detonator. It was covered in strange carvings that made no sense to Arvos. When he asked master Yoda what the sphere was, Yoda only told him that it was tied to where he came from and that he'd understand what to do with it when he was ready.

Arvos kept that sphere in his room, hidden within a secret panel within a chest of his meager belongings, which consisted of only a spare change of clothes and his sketches of that strange blade that haunted his dreams in the weeks leading up to the Gathering. While he no longer saw the blade in his dreams anymore, it hadn't vanished from his mind. He'd tried researching it, only to come up dry on all counts so far.

So, he'd put that search on hold until he found something to put him on the right track, instead shifting his spare time back to researching every aspect of lightsabers that he could, though some of that time was taken up on maintenance and modification to his own lightsabers.

"So, where's everyone off to?" Arvos asked.

"Well, I had some reading I wanted to do in the Archives. I think it's safe to say that Arvos will be there." Alvya replied.

"Actually, I was going to go down to the smithy to do some work on my lightsabers. I want to try and modify the grip a bit to work better in two hands as well as one." Arvos revealed.

"Oh hey, mind if I tag along? Something feels off with my lightsaber and I've been meaning to do a full diagnostic of it to figure out what's wrong." Garo asked. Arvos grinned.

"I'd be glad to help, if that's what you're asking." Arvos told his friend.

"I think I'll go with Alvya to the archives. I've got some reading I need to take care of too." Tala told them. With their farewells bade, the group separated into their pairs and went their separate ways. Arvos and Garo maneuvered their way through the winding corridors of the temple until they reached the Smithy, deep within the temple. The Smithy was a collection of workshops where Jedi could go to repair, modify or construct new lightsabers. Arvos was more than familiar with it, spending far more time down here than any of his peers.

"So, what's the problem you're having with your lightsaber?" Arvos asked as he grabbed two pairs of work gloves and goggles, then tossed a set to Garo.

"I feel a buzzing in the handle when I switch it on, as well as occasional vibrations when the blade is active. I thought it might have been an issue with the emitter, but I couldn't find anything wrong with it when I gave it a onceover before sparring today." Garo told him. Arvos made a humming noise in his throat before he motioned for Garo to open it up. Garo did just that, removing the shell from the weapon so that Arvos could take a look.

"Power cell looks good, no cracks in the crystal, Emitter looks fully functional… hmm…" Arvos muttered before he grabbed a pair of stands for the lightsaber and set it up, as well as a special binder that went around the crystal chamber so that activating the lightsaber wouldn't cause energy to erupt from the crystal chamber. From there, he disconnected the power cell and grabbed a large power supply and adjusting the dials on it before hooking it up in place of the power cell. With that done, Arvos activated the lightsaber and eyed the components. Then he noticed something strange with the modulation core.

"I think I found the problem." Arvos informed Garo before deactivating the weapon and decoupling the power supply. From there, he carefully removed the modulation core and grabbed a small tool and used it to open up the core. From there, Arvos whistled.

"Yeah, that'd definitely do it." He commented before he showed the interior to Garo who frowned when he saw it.

"I'm guessing those black spots shouldn't be in there." Garo muttered as Arvos tossed the offending part into a bin of broken parts.

"No. No there should not be black spots inside the modulation core." Arvos quipped back as he grabbed a small device and began to run it along the naked hilt.

"What are you looking for?" Garo asked as he peered closer at the inspection.

"Typically, modulation cores get that kind of damage if there's a short from the power cell straight to the core. The core is designed to regulate the plasma that's focused through the crystal so that the hilt doesn't melt or explode in your hand, but it can be surprisingly vulnerable to strong enough electrical surges. It's an issue that was addressed with the newest version of the part, but it's also more expensive to manufacture." Arvos explained as he continued to check the handle.

"Okay, but that doesn't really answer what you're doing." Garo pointed out.

"Sorry. I'm trying to find if there's any problems with the insulation or any shorts that would have allowed the modulation core to get damaged like that… No, looks like you just got a slightly defective part. You're lucky it lasted this long, otherwise you could have been missing half your face and your hand at an inopportune moment." Arvos muttered as he began rooting around through one of the bins for a replacement core before he came up with one. He grabbed some more equipment and plugged it into the core before examining a few of the screens before he grinned.

"Alright, this one should work!" Arvos declared as he installed the part and checked it over to make sure everything was properly connected and aligned. Garo hooked up the power supply and activated the blade. Everything was working perfectly. Grinning ear to ear, Garo reinstalled the power cell and replaced the shell for the hilt before pulling off the gloves and activating his weapon.

"It feels better than ever! Thanks!" Garo declared before shutting off the weapon. However, Arvos couldn't help but notice that Garo's gaze lingered on the lightsaber in a strange way. His grip on it was tight, as if Garo was distressed in some way.

"Garo, are you alright?" Arvos asked in a concerned tone. Garo seemed to snap out of it and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just tired. Maybe I'll head back to my room after I do some training exercises. See you at dinner, Arvos." Garo replied. After exchanging farewells, Garo departed and Arvos placed his own sabers on the workbench and started tinkering. His original design had been designed to be comfortably held in two hands with form three in mind. However, when he decided to take up a dual-bladed style, he'd switched to learning forms four and five and modified his lightsaber's hilt to be held more comfortably in one hand. However, he'd made another adjustment recently that had more than a few of his instructors a bit… well, the word he'd heard was _disapproving. _He'd added a coupler system to the pommels of his lightsabers, allowing them to link together to form a saberstaff. Now, one thing he didn't find himself arguing with was the advice of his lightsaber instructor that he shouldn't overextend himself. While he did agree that throwing himself into learning three distinct styles of lightsaber combat (standard, dual wielding and the saberstaff) was potentially reckless, he had confidence that his many years of study of every aspect of lightsabers, including the theory behind the many combinations of blades one could use, would assist him in the practical side of learning the art.

It was due to this that he'd left one of his lightsabers in Alvya's possession when he and Tala had dueled earlier. He wanted to keep his skills with a single blade sharp. The problem was that his modifications to his lightsaber had thrown off his technique during his duel with Tala.

So now, he was faced with a dilemma. He needed to modify his lightsabers to be held comfortably in one hand, two hands, and as a saberstaff.

"Well, I guess it wouldn't be interesting if it was easy. Might as well go ahead and custom forge the parts while I'm at it." Arvos joked to himself as he began to experiment with different designs for the coverings. The minutes trickled by to hours and Arvos was close, so close to getting the design right. However, it just wouldn't click!

"Maybe I should consider custom forging the parts at this point." Arvos grumbled to himself as he continued to star at the two weapons on the workbench.

"I wouldn't go quite that far just yet."

Arvos turned around when he heard the voice and went stock still. Standing before him was _the _Anakin Skywalker, hero of the Republic and knight of the Jedi Order.

"Master Skywalker!" Arvos greeted quickly before bowing.

"Easy there, kid. No need to freak out." Anakin quickly said as he waved down Arvos.

"Sorry, master Skywalker. I just wasn't expecting to see you here." Arvos explained.

"Yeah, normally I do my lightsaber maintenance in my own quarters. So, what are you working on here?" Skywalker asked as he went to look at Arvos' lightsabers.

"Well, I'm trying to modify my lightsabers to operate in a better all-around manner. Currently, they're designed to be operated with dual wielding and saberstaff combat in mind. However, I also want to adjust them to function for single blade use as well, should I be disarmed in battle or need to lend an ally one of them." Arvos explained. Anakin examined the weapons with a critical eye before he gestured to a section of the handle.

"What if you used a studded grip ring there? That should provide a comfortable grip while allowing for greater ease of flourishes and spins." Anakin suggested. Arvos thought about if for a moment and grinned widely.

"Yeah, that's it! How'd I not figure that out sooner?" Arvos exclaimed as he made the modifications and held the sabers in his hand before putting one away to try it with both hands, then linked them together to form a saberstaff. They felt perfect!

"I gotta say, that's a pretty slick piece of work, that lightsaber. You study engineering a lot?" Anakin asked. Arvos shrugged.

"I study lightsabers a lot. I don't know why, but I've always just been drawn to them, so I've been studying them as long as I could. History, old designs and why they were used, old innovations and styles that have fallen out of favor, philosophy behind them, everything I can." Arvos explained. Anakin looked at Arvos for a second before he grabbed his lightsaber and held it out to Arvos.

"What can you tell me about this one?" Anakin asked Arvos. Arvos gingerly took the saber in his hand and examined it. He felt as if he were holding the fabled First Blade itself.

"Well… It's designed for pure functionality and form five in mind. Solid casing, heavy shielding around the emitter, ridged handgrip and beveling on the emitter, it's practically perfect for form five. Nothing extraneous or decorative, just pure function." Arvos observed before handing it back to Anakin, who had a smile on his face.

"Pretty impressive, kid. I might just recommend a few Jedi to you for recommendations for lightsaber modifications." The knight praised Arvos.

"Thank you for your kind words, master Skywalker. I'll try to live up to your praise." Arvos replied before turning to leave.

"Where are you going?" Anakin asked. Arvos paused.

"Well, I've got my lightsabers sorted out, so I thought it would be best to go get some practice in with them. The design only takes you so far, after all." Arvos answered.

"While that's certainly true, you didn't think I came down here just for nothing, did you?" Anakin clarified before continuing.

"I was heading down here to collect some parts and master Yoda caught me on the way down to inform you that your trials to ascend to the rank of Padawan are scheduled for a week's time. Master Yoda mentioned you'd likely be here if you weren't in the Archives." Anakin informed him. Arvos went completely still. His eyes glazed over a bit before he snapped back into reality. Even still, it didn't feel real. His trials to determine if he was ready to be assigned to a master and becoming a padawan were upon him already… He couldn't believe it. His life could change greatly in one week's time.

"Thank you for informing me, master Skywalker. I'll begin preparations immediately." Arvos told him with a bow before departing. His head was still spinning a bit at the revelation. He eventually made his way back to his dorm and stumbled over to his bed. He'd scarcely been sitting for more than a few minutes as his brain tried to process what he'd just been told when he heard a frantic hammering on the door to his room.

"Yes?" He called out before the door slid open and Tala rushed in.

"Youwon'tbelievethisI'mtakingthetrialsinaweekandI'mfreakingout!" Tala exclaimed as she grabbed him by the shoulders and started shaking him. When he managed to extricate himself from her grip and get her to calm down with repeated insistences that he couldn't understand what she was saying (a process that took him several minutes) he finally managed to get her to say what she was trying say in understandable Basic.

"Master Luminara told me that I've been approved for my Padawan trials and am scheduled to undertake them in a week's time." Tala informed him. Arvos was surprised, but not terribly so. One thing that had shocked him was that he'd received news of this before Tala, seeing as she was the most devoted of the four of them to becoming a Jedi.

"Well, I guess I can't top your news with mine. It's the exact same after all." Arvos replied, which led to Tala's jaw dropping.

"Both of us?! Wait… maybe all four of us got accepted! We gotta go find Alvya and Garo!" Tala exclaimed before rushing out of Arvos' room and down the hall. Arvos hurried after her, deciding there was nothing better to do. It didn't take too long to find Alvya. She was still down in the Archives and was currently talking to master Eeth Koth. Koth departed before they got to her and given the look on Alvya's face, it wasn't hard to guess what had just happened.

"You're taking your Padawan trials soon, right?" Tala asked Alvya, who looked floored that they'd guessed.

"How did you…" Alvya started before she noticed the massive smile plastered across Tala's face and the more dazed smile that Arvos had.

"No way…" She murmured.

"Yep. Me and Arvos both got the same news." Tala confirmed.

"We gotta go find Garo! He's gotta have gotten word too!" Alvya declared before they left to go find him.

"So, you saw him last, Arvos. You got a guess as to where he is?" Tala asked. Arvos frowned.

"He was acting a little weird after we finished fixing his lightsaber; said he was thinking of going back to his room after he finished doing a few drills." Arvos replied. Alvya frowned.

"He's been acting strangely for a few weeks now. He's distracted during lessons, his swordsmanship has taken a hit recently, he's been distant… Do you think we should talk to one of the masters about this?" Alvya asked. Tala looked ponderous.

"Let's give it a few days and see how he's doing. He could just be having an off-period." Tala suggested. Arvos nodded in agreement, but he was still concerned. He couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was going on with Garo, it wasn't something that was going to just go away.

Eventually, they did find Garo. He was in the sparring hall, training with one of the spherical training droids. He was currently blindfolded and doing pretty well for himself, blocking the little taser blasts that the droids fired. When the set ended and the droid returned to a resting state, Garo removed the blindfold and noticed the three other younglings watching. He set the helmet aside and walked over to them, helmet tucked under his arm and lightsaber at his belt.

"Well, what's so special that all three of you came here to see me?" Garo asked, looking a little weirded out by their faces.

"Well, we've been informed individually that we've been selected to take the trials to become padawans next week!" Alvya exclaimed. Garo was taken aback before he started grinning ear to ear.

"That's great! Amazing!" He replied with equal excitement before his expression turned to curiosity.

"Any mention of me in there?" Garo asked.

"Not to me. They only informed us individually. I wouldn't be surprised if someone comes to inform you of your own trials being scheduled." Arvos replied. Strangely enough, Garo didn't look quite as enthusiastic or very convinced, but he still smiled.

"Well, what do we do now?" Garo asked. Tala grinned at all of them.

"Well, what else would we do? We start training harder than ever!"

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**Alright, that's where we're calling it for today! Slight changes made mid-production, but I think it's gonna make for a more interesting story.**

**Creativity: We gonna discuss anything about the chapter?**

**Author: Not all that much, actually. There's not much to really discuss right now. So, I'll not waste more of your time. Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see ya next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Greetings, and welcome back to Star Wars: Twilight Blade! **

**Creativity: Roll the title crawl!**

**Author: We can't do a title crawl, we aren't a movie studio.**

**Creativity: I just wanted to get into the spirit of things…**

**Author: Well, I applaud you for your enthusiasm. **

**So, before anything else, let's get to the review responses:**

**FallenAssassin9: Thank you for your continued reviews! Yeah, bit of a significant time jump, but I figured it was more than warranted. As for Arvos' future master, you'll just have to wait and see. I've got plans… big plans…**

**And that's it for the reviews for now! So, last we left Arvos and co, they were suddenly thrust into the reality of preparing for the Padawan trials to determine if they were fit to apprentice under full members of the Order and eventually become true Jedi Knights. **

**But, while I'm sure you are oh so eager to get to the chapter proper, I first have two things to get out of the way. Item numero unos, the story recommendation! Today's recommendation goes to The Master's Apprentice by one Hawkeyesbow; a story regarding a member of the Knights of Ren. It's in early days right now, but I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes.**

**Item numero dos is, of course, the Discord Server password: xtydzBf**

**And with that, we're finally ready to begin! Allow us to proudly present chapter 5 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade!**

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For as long as Arvos could remember, he'd been training or studying to become a Jedi. It had been intense, but he and the others had risen to the challenge every time.

However, never before could Arvos recall them training with the level of fervor, and certainly outside their normal instruction. Every spare moment was spent either in the training hall or in the Archives to study everything they thought they could be tested on, meditating and training with all the Force abilities that they'd been taught so far.

At the moment, Arvos was engaging in a two on one spar with Tala and Alvya using his lightsabers in their saberstaff form, since that was the most recent edition to his repertoire and that it needed the most practice of all three approaches to combat he had. He was doing alright, all things considered. He had practiced the tenets of the weapon in private already; employing blade spins to intimidate and disorient his opponents, fast and whirling motions to capitalize on the dual-bladed nature of the weapon, use of wide-sweeping strikes and several others. However, solo practice only got you so far. Hence, the current spar.

Arvos ducked underneath a swipe from Alvya before retaliating with a kick and striking at Tala with a stab, then going into a whirling series of strikes. Alvya managed to dodge or block them before they entered a saber lock, which Arvos immediately had the advantage in, due to his lightsaber providing him more leverage. However, he could hear the sound of boots rushing towards him, so he broke the lock and whirled his lightsaber around to block Alvya's incoming strike before he began blocking Alvya's followup strikes. By this point, Tala had rejoined the fray and now Arvos had his fellow trainees slowly but surely forcing him back. Eventually they were on the edge of the sparring mat and were now engaged in a two on one saber lock. Arvos gritted his teeth as he looked for a way out. Tala and Alvya were pushing with all their might, trying to force him out of bounds. Suddenly, Arvos grinned a bit. He suddenly shut off his lightsaber and went into a full backbend. The sudden absence of resistance caused Tala and Alvya to tumble forward and out of the ring, leading to Arvos cackling like a Kowakian and his friends glaring at him.

"That was a cheap trick." Tala muttered as got to her feet. Arvos shrugged.

"I think it's perfectly valid if you're backed up against the ledge of a cliff or tall building. Also, let's be real. You would have done the same thing if you'd been in my position." He replied amicably. Tala looked scandalized for a moment before she realized that Alvya was giggling a little bit.

"He's not exactly wrong, is he?" Alvya asked.

"Traitor!" Tala exclaimed, leading Arvos to burst out laughing again. Alvya's giggles had also grown to full-on laughter, much to Tala's mock horror. However, she couldn't keep the façade up for long and soon she was laughing right along with them.

However, the laughter didn't last long. After all, they were three days out from their trials, and they needed to be as prepared as possible. It had been agreed upon that the last two days should be spent in relative relaxation, as showing up to the trials while sore, stiff and exhausted (both mentally and physically) from non-stop training would do them no favors. However, there was one small damper on their preparations. Namely, that Garo had not received notice that he was scheduled to take the trials. They were all becoming concerned. Garo had become even more isolated recently. He was constantly in the Archives or checking holos on current events, spending less and less time on training and study, even spending less and less time with them. It was starting to concern them. They'd tried approaching him about it before, asking if he was okay, but he always brushed them off, insisting he was fine. Still, they were becoming more worried by the day. Regardless of what Garo said, there was something clearly wrong and they didn't know how long they could wait for him to sort it out. After all, assuming all went well at the trials, they'd be assigned to masters and they'd likely be seeing very little of each other after that. If things really were in a trajectory like that, they'd likely end up leaving him behind; a thought that left a real bitter taste in their mouths.

"Do you guys think we should talk to someone about this? I mean, someone other than Garo. I really hate to say it, but I don't think he's going to talk to us about whatever's bugging him right now." Alvya asked Tala and Arvos, who both frowned, slightly guilty looks on their faces. Not that they'd actually done anything, but mainly due to the intrusiveness of the actions they were considering. Still, the potential guilt was far outweighed by their concern for their friend. Still, going to one of their instructors still left a knot of guilt in there stomachs all the same.

"Maybe we should try talking to him one last time. Or, maybe just one of us. It has been multiple people approaching him so far. If just one of us approaches him, maybe he'll tell us what's going on." Tala suggested. There was another round of frowning. None of them really had much faith in the idea, but it was all they had at the moment.

"Guys, it's probably best if we just tell an instructor and be done with it. Us dancing around it and Garo's stubbornness aren't helping him." Arvos suggested tiredly. He didn't like the words coming out of his mouth, but they were probably the best direct course of action. Probably.

"By the Force, why is this so complicated…?" Tala complained. It was a sentiment shared by Alvya and Arvos, but one that they had no answers for.

"Let's think about this later. I need to review some of old texts for the trials." Arvos suggested. The others quickly nodded in the affirmative and they went their separate ways. However, Arvos couldn't get the situation out of his head. The more he thought about it, the more tangled and confused his thoughts became. He couldn't think of what would be causing Garo this sort of… imbalance. Sure, he'd had a real rough patch after the Temple Bombing, but that had been a tragic event for all Jedi. The pointless death that it had, the framing of one Padawan by one she considered a friend, it had shaken the order down to its foundations, in more ways than one.

Still, the more Arvos thought about it, the more it seemed that Garo's current state traced back to the bombing. Arvos shuddered as he recalled it. He'd been in one of the practice halls, training with his only lightsaber at the time when a loud _BOOM _suddenly shook the air and the entire temple quaked beneath his boots from the force of the blast. He remembered the panic as the Coruscant Police and Firefighters descended upon the Temple. The healers were working overtime to tend to the wounded, Garo included. Arvos remembered when they'd gotten word about Garo's condition. When Arvos had managed to get to his feet once the ground stopped shaking, he'd immediately began running through the Temple, trying to find Tala, Alvya or Garo. He'd found Tala first, who'd been in the temple foyer when the bomb went off and had been trying desperately to figure out what had happened and find her friends. When they found one another, they immediately tried running towards the Archives, hoping to find Alvya there. They lucked out and she wasn't too far away from the Archives. However, during their search, they were told by a Jedi Master to head to one of the specified training halls and wait there until they received further instruction. They'd protested, obviously. They needed to find Garo and make sure he was okay! But, the master assured them that the moment they got word of Garo, they'd send someone to inform them.

When they arrived at the training hall, it was already filled with younglings of varying age. They were all clustered together and whispering to each other in fear and uncertainty. It took about an hour before someone arrived; that someone being one master Marahl Corvis; a Theelin female with emerald green skin, purple hair and piercing blue eyes. She immediately picked out the group and strode over to them. The look on her face did not bode well. Arvos couldn't forget the way his ears started to ring or the way his heart started to pound in his chest as he, Tala and Alvya ran as fast as they could down to the medical center, despite Master Corvis' protests. They ran, ducked and weaving around everyone between them and the medical center until they burst through the door and began frantically looking around. They eventually found Garo lying on one of the hospital beds. His arm was inside a bacta tank and wrapped in bandages to staunch the bleeding. That didn't change the fact that there was some red swirling about in the tank from the soaked bandages.

The healers managed to gently remove the three from Garo's bedside, explaining that, despite the grisly wounds, he wasn't in any danger of bleeding out. However, the bacta unfortunately wouldn't prevent scarring.

It was a few days later that Garo was discharged from the medical center, but it was plain as day that he'd left something behind when he passed through those doors. At first they thought it was him still coming to grips with what had happened, but now…

"Are you alright, youngling? You seem distracted."

Arvos suddenly looked up, not realizing that he was standing in front of the entrance to the Archives already. The voice in question that had snapped him out of his recollection was actually Master Luminara Unduli.

"I'm sorry, master. It's probably just that my padawan trials are just around the corner." Arvos answered. It didn't look like Master Luminara was buying it, but she let it go and kept on her way. Arvos was somewhat surprised by her presence. Last Arvos had heard, Master Unduli was supposed to be out on the front lines of the Clone Wars, but then he remembered that the trial of Barriss Offee regarding her confession to the bombing of the Jedi Temple was scheduled for some time in the very near future. Arvos felt a knot form in his stomach. As padawan Offee's master, he couldn't imagine what was going through Luminara's head when she got word of her padawan's actions. She was likely being called as a witness to the trial, or was simply here to observe it, be it at her own behest or the council's.

When Arvos entered the library, he deftly navigated to a section where he recalled an old manuscript which detailed the establishment of the Jedi Code was kept. It was high up on his reading list for trial preparation. It was also likely to prove a nice distraction from his inability to figure out the Garo problem.

He eventually found the manuscript and gave it a general once-over before he read it more in-depth. He lost himself in the words, eventually finishing the old manuscript and moving on to another, and another and before he knew it he was liable to be late for evening meal!

He hurriedly put away all of the manuscripts and texts before he began rushing to the refectory where the group always met for mealtimes. Luckily, he made it in time and collected a tray of the usual evening food before he managed to find the group sitting in their usual corner of the refectory. He gave them a greeting as they waved to him before sitting down and digging in.

"So, how was studying?" Tala asked. Arvos shrugged.

"It went fine. Read a good number of the manuscripts that are recommended for preparation. If I have time afterwards, I'm going to get in more practice with the saberstaff." Arvos replied before he continued attacking his meal. Tala nodded.

"Yeah, I'm probably gonna head to the Archives after I'm done here. I've got some reading I need to get out of the way myself." Tala commented before taking another bite.

"Say, Garo. You mind joining me? We haven't sparred for a while." Arvos invited. Garo looked up from his meal, confused. He probably hadn't been paying attention.

"Sorry, my mind was elsewhere. You invited to practice saber forms, right?" Garo asked for clarification. Arvos nodded.

"Along those lines, yes. You in?" Arvos asked again. Garo considered it for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, I think I'd like that. I've been having a tough time sleeping lately, so maybe so exercise before bed will help." Garo replied. Arvos smiled.

"Fantastic. So, what are you going to do, Alvya?" Arvos asked. The youngling in question paused and considered it for a moment.

"I'm not sure. I've done plenty of training and study today, so I thought I might take it easy tonight. Though, I might stop in to watch you two spar. If you both are okay with it, of course." Alvya mentioned. Arvos shrugged.

"I don't see an issue. Garo?"

Garo shrugged as well.

"No problem on my end." The twi-lek male informed them before returning his attention to his food. The rest of their evening meal was a quiet affair. No one spoke until their platters were cleaned and they delivered them back to the kitchen before they went their separate ways. True to planning, Arvos and Garo went down to one of the sparring halls to practice. There weren't many of them in use at the moment, so it wasn't that hard to track down an empty one. Once inside, Arvos linked his sabers together and bowed to Garo, who bowed in turn. The two activated their weapons and gave a flourishing salute before they took up ready positions. Arvos took up one of the more balanced stances, one blade pointed towards Garo with another blade behind. Garo himself took up a standard Form IV stance; blade held high, just to the right of the head and completely vertical. The deep blue blade thrummed in a low-medium pitch. They began slowly circling each other, blades kept in the same positions as they both waited for the other to strike.

Garo made the first move, lunging forward with a thrust. Arvos batted the blade away before swinging the other end of his blade around. Garo quickly disengaged and blocked Arvos' strike as he backpedalled. Arvos pursued, going for a thrust of his own that Garo blocked as well. Arvos immediately swung the other blade around again, this time coming close to a hit, if Garo hadn't bent out of the way and gone into a backhand spring. Arvos let Garo get some space as he regrouped himself, flourishing the saberstaff before entering a new ready position. This time, the blade was held horizontally in front of him with one hand, while his empty hand was stretched out behind him. Garo lunged forward, immediately going into a string of strikes that Arvos blocked with ease before he went for a low swipe, followed by a jab. Garo blocked both strikes and began a whirling slash, spinning the blade with his wrist in an intimidating display of swordsmanship. Arvos' eyes widened as he backpedalled, blocking the strikes. That was a form V strike; a fighting style that Arvos had never seen Garo use before, outside of mandatory practice when they were younglings. He'd complained about how he didn't like the form, preferring to use form IV.

"_Just another change recently…" _Arvos thought to himself before he suddenly went back on the offensive, unleashing a series of whirling slashes of his own. The dual whirling blades of the saberstaff had the desired effect of throwing Garo off, an advantage that Arvos was quick to exploit as he continued his blitz of strikes, not allowing Garo to center himself. Finally, seeing an opportunity, Arvos lunged forward and checked Garo in the chest with his saberstaff while he was off-balance, causing him to tumble to the ground. Arvos immediately had his blade leveled at Garo's chest. Victory was his.

Arvos helped Garo to his feet and smiled at him.

"Gotta say, I wasn't expecting you to dip into form V back there. I thought you hated that style." Arvos commented as they rested.

"I've been experimenting recently." Garo replied dismissively.

"Well, it definitely caught me off-guard. So, round two, or should we call it a night?" Arvos asked. Garo shook his head.

"I think calling it a night is best. You need all the rest you can get for that exam coming up, and I'm more tired than I thought." Garo replied. Arvos nodded to him and waved goodbye as Garo left to head back to his quarters. However, the moment he was gone, Arvos began rubbing his forehead. He had a feeling that Garo didn't want to leave because he was just tired. Plus, he'd just given up perhaps the one opportunity he was going to have in a long while to talk to Garo about what was bothering him.

"Ugh… What to do, what to do…" Arvos muttered to himself as he slumped down on one of the benches in the sparring hall.

"What to do indeed."

Arvos looked up to see a familiar face looking down at him. The emerald skin and purple hair were a dead giveaway.

"Master Corvis? What are you doing here?" Arvos asked. The Theelin tilted her head at the question.

"Well, aside from being ranked a Jedi Master and being permitted to go most anywhere within the Jedi Temple as I wish, what kind of Jedi Master would I be if I didn't take it upon myself to provide aid to a troubled youngling?" Marahl Corvis asked with a slight lilt to her tone, though there was a thread of concern laced through it. Even as he felt a little embarrassed, Arvos could tell that the master was trying to raise his spirits, if only a little.

"Now, what seems to be the trouble, young one?" The master asked as she took a seat next to him.

"Well… It's my fellow youngling, Garo. He's the one that was just sparring with me, but you probably already knew that. We're in the same clan and… something's wrong with him and he won't tell us what. He's been getting more and more distant by the day, he's been slipping in training and study… I don't know, it could be nothing, but with how much he's been avoiding us, sans meeting for meals and the occasional spar, we barely ever see him and he won't talk to us about whatever's bugging him. We're all worried about him." Arvos explained. Marahl listened patiently as Arvos explained the situation before he finished speaking. She considered what he said for a moment before she finally replied.

"I have a feeling there's a little more to this situation. Is there anything else that you want to share?" Marahl inquired. Arvos nodded.

"The main thing that's struck us as odd was that we all received summons for our trials to become padawans around the same time, but Garo didn't receive any word regarding news. It's honestly around that time that we really noticed something was wrong. We'd always believed that Garo would be the first among us to reach the rank of padawan and Knight, and now here we are mere days away from our trials and he hasn't even heard anything. He was always the most devoted of us all to becoming a Jedi and now he's lagging behind and it just doesn't make sense to me why." Arvos confided. Marahl frowned.

"I can't say I know much of your clan, or the goings on of the Temple. I'm often kept away from it for a number of reasons. You however, you know your friend quite well. Do you really believe that his recent behaviour is born of some as of yet unknown problem he's experiencing?" Marahl inquired. Arvos shook his head.

"That's the problem. I _don't_ know." Arvos lamented. Marahl frowned as she considered it.

"It sounds to me like you know deep down that something is wrong, but you don't know how to approach it. Or perhaps you do, but you are afraid of the potential consequences you may face from it. Trust in the Force, youngling. And trust in yourself. I know not how your clanmate will respond to you offering assistance, but I do know that you will regret it for a long time if you do not act now." Marahl counselled.

"I… I know. I don't know why this is so hard for all of us to talk to him about it now. We tried before, but he brushed it off, so why would it become harder when we're more concerned?" Arvos questioned. For that, Master Corvis had no answers. However, Arvos didn't need one right now. Instead, he stood up and bowed to Master Corvis before turning to leave.

"Thank you for the advice, Master. May the Force be with you." Arvos bade farewell as he turned to leave.

"May the Force be with you, youngling." Master Corvis replied in kind before she too took her leave from the sparring hall.

* * *

As Arvos marched his way through the Temple towards the youngling's lodgings, he had some part of him still questioning what the kriff he was doing, but he ignored those thoughts. He knew that if he stopped to think about it more, he'd never get this done. At least after this, he could say he at least tried.

Soon enough, he was at the door to Garo's room. He lightly rapped his knuckles on the door before it slid open. Sure enough, there was Garo, dressed in a beige tunic and trousers.

"Arvos? What are you doing here? I thought you'd be going to bed by now." Garo muttered as he rubbed his eyes. Arvos took a deep breath.

"I don't have anything scheduled tomorrow, and we need to talk." Arvos stated firmly.

"Talk about what, and why can't it wait until tomorrow?" Garo asked drowsily. Arvos frowned.

"Garo, you know very well what." Arvos pressed, trying to keep his frustration at Garo's deflection and dismissiveness out of his voice.

"Oh _kriff, _not this again…" Garo muttered as he turned around and walked back into his room.

"Garo, you can't honestly tell me, Tala or Alvya that something isn't up! You've been distant, you've been slipping in training and studies, and don't forget that you nearly fell asleep more than once a week or so ago in the sparring hall!" Arvos argued. Garo's fists balled up as he stared at the back wall of his room.

"I told you, I'm fine." Garo ground out.

"Look me in the eye and tell me that, Garo! Look me in the eye and tell me that everything is fine, because I don't believe it! Neither do Tala or Alvya!" Arvos countered. Garo whirled around; his face twisted in anger.

"I said I'm fine, now leave me alone!" He shouted, caused Arvos to take a step back, arms raised a bit. Garo noticed this, especially taking notice of how Arvos' hands were now hovering just over his lightsabers. Then Garo realized that there was a familiar weight in his hand. He looked down to see his own lightsaber in his hand. Garo's eyes widened as he suddenly dropped the weapon and took a few shaky steps away from it, the hand that had been holding the weapon now shuddering.

"I… I'm sorry, I don't… I'd never…" Garo stammered as his eyes were locked on the lightsaber laying on the floor. Arvos hands dropped away from his own weapons and he slowly walked forward, using the Force to call Garo's weapon to himself.

"Garo… what is going on?" Arvos asked again, much more hesitantly this time. Garo took a deep breath and buried his face in his hands.

"I… Listen, I can't tell you, alright? At least, not yet." Garo replied as he stared at the ground. Arvos frowned.

"Well, when _can_ you tell us? Just sitting on it isn't good for you." Arvos pressed. Garo shook his head.

"Look, just wait until after your padawan trials, alright? I can tell you then." Garo requested. Arvos frowned but nodded.

"Alright. Alright, I can wait. Why do you want us to wait until then?" Arvos asked. Garo shook his head.

"I can't tell you that now. You'll understand when I explain it after your trials. You'll be on your way to being padawans by then" Garo answered. Arvos looked at him funnily.

"We don't know if we're going to pass the trials." Arvos pointed out, only for Garo to let out a small chuckle.

"How could you not? You all are going to pass with flying colors. I have faith in that." Garo stated before continuing.

"Look, just wait until the trials are over, then I'll come clean on everything, alright?" Garo begged. Arvos wasn't happy with it but he didn't press further. Instead, he offered back Garo's lightsaber before he turned to leave. Garo seemed hesitant to accept it; taking it gingerly, as if he worried touching it would cause it to explode in his hands. Arvos turned and left. The room, bidding Garo a half-hearted farewell before heading towards his own room. He was still shaken by Garo's hostile actions. It was all them more evidence that something was seriously wrong with Garo. Still, they'd at least gotten to the point of admittance. That was something at the very least.

However, Arvos couldn't help but feel a distinct chill in the air. He knew Garo. Even if he'd been this angry, he would never have turned his lightsaber on a friend, or even a complete stranger. Whatever was wrong with him was running really deep. Arvos had seen a real darkness in Garo in that brief moment and it scared him. It scared him a lot.

Arvos shook his head. Enough of that. They'd gotten on the right track. Garo had at least admitted there was a problem, even if he still refused to share what it was. However, there was nothing else for it now. He'd just have to wait until his trials were over until he could get answers.

"Garo, whatever's going on with you, I hope you find a way out of it." Arvos murmured to himself as he stepped into his room and set his lightsabers inside the small wooden chest where he kept his meager belongings. He at least could rest easy knowing that come the conclusion of their trials, he, Tala and Alvya would finally get some answers on what was bugging Garo.

And with that weight lifted from his mind, all that remained was the trials. And should he pass those, he would be one step closer to becoming a Jedi.

* * *

**And that's chapter 5 of Twilight Blade done! For those of you who read my original version of this story (First off, let my apologize for it) may recognize Jedi Master Marahl, though now she has a last name of Corvis. Originally she was a human female, but I decided to change her to a Theelin since one issue I've had with every version of Star Wars sans TCW and Rebels is that I felt they could be using the non-humans WAY more than just as stuff to look at in the background. **

**So, Garo's still in a bad way and getting worse. What's wrong with him? Well, we've got that all well plotted out, but you'll have to wait and see. We've still got work on Before: KH to get out of the way.**

**Creativity: What about a quick reaction to the TCW season 7 trailer?**

**Author: I liked it. I **_**really **_**liked it. I especially like what they've done with Maul's saber, being made of one half of his original and the incomplete, 'unshelled' other half welded together. Can't wait for it.**

**Well, I think that's enough out of me. Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone, and welcome to chapter 6 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade! It's been a while since I sat down to write for this story, but I'm pumped to be back at it!**

**Creativity: Plus, we're on reading week right now, so that's a window for us to **_**really **_**go to town!**

**Author: Indeed! I've had plenty of time to ruminate on what chapter 6 is going to look like, and I've come to the conclusion that, like everything I write, regardless of how much planning goes into it, I'm going to once again fly/write by the seat of my pants!**

**Creativity: That is what we tend to do, isn't it…**

**Author: Hey, it's worked out well so far. **

**So, first order of business; let's answer the chapter five reviews:**

**FallenAssassin9: Yeah, I can see how the chapter could be taken as more 'filler', but I don't think that detracts from it all that much. Besides, some of this stuff will be important later.**

**And that's all the reviews! So, when we last left our youngling clan… **_**ahem…**_

**ALL IS NOT WELL IN THE JEDI TEMPLE…**

**WHILE YOUNGLINGS ARVOS MORO, ALVYA GERAN AND TALA MAIR PREPARE  
FOR THEIR PADAWAN TRIALS, THEY ALSO FACE A STRAIN ON THEIR FRIENDSHIP  
WITH FELLOW JEDI HOPEFUL, GARO JAUK. AFTER CONFRONTING GARO ABOUT  
HIS RECENT BEHAVIOUR, GARO TOLD THEM THAT THEY WOULD LEARN THE TRUTH  
ONCE THEY HAD COMPLETED THEIR PADAWAN TRIALS. **

**WITH THAT DAY FAST APPROACHING, THE PATHS OF THESE FOUR YOUNGLINGS WILL BE CHANGED,  
ONE WAY OR ANOTHER…**

**Creativity: Not totally sure about the title crawl. But it's not half bad I guess…**

**Author: Either way, we need to get a move on! Discord password:** **xtydzBf**

**And with that out of the way, we can move on to the main event! **_**Ahem…**_

**Allow us to proudly present chapter 6 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade!**

* * *

Arvos took a deep breath as he waited kneeling in a dark room. His head was bowed as he meditated to calm himself and steel his nerves for the examination. He'd already presented himself before the council to test his knowledge and understanding of the Force and the Jedi Order, including but not limited to history, philosophy, rules and expectations, so on and so forth. He had no idea what their assessment of him was, but that didn't matter at the moment. What mattered was that he was moving on to the next component of the Trials.

These next trials would test his strength and discipline within the Force, as well as his martial skills. He wasn't sure exactly what to expect. They had numerous methods of testing you so that you wouldn't have an advantage if you failed the Trials and went for another pass, or if you attempted to get the information out of someone else who had also undergone the Trials. However, despite his nervousness, Arvos could feel he was ready. He'd practiced meditation while levitating seven objects (light objects, but it was more quantity over quality), he'd become quite proficient with all three forms of lightsaber combat at his disposal, and if he could maintain discipline through the torment that had been the process of making his crystals, he could make it through a simple trial just fine.

Arvos' eyes cracked open as the doors slowly opened. He rose to his feet, wincing a bit as the bright light streamed through the widening doorway. He took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose before he strode determinedly through to face his next challenge.

As he stepped into the circular chamber, he looked around to see his examiners watching him carefully. When he reached the center of the room, he stood still and bowed before his eyes began to flit about, taking his surroundings in. There were two Temple Guards flanking the observers entrance, and Arvos had a feeling there were two more to either side of him and two behind. One of his examiners stepped forward and stared down at him. It was an orange-skinned twi-lek male. Arvos straightened up even more, wanting to make sure he was making a good impression.

"Young one. You stand before us as a youngling, hoping to leave here as a padawan. Maybe you see this as an end, or even just one step closer to becoming a Jedi. Regardless, this next step is never quite what we believe it to be." The twi-lek stated. Arvos didn't shift at all. He simply waited patiently.

"Now then, let us begin your trials." The Jedi declared before he pressed a button on the railing in front of him. A small swarm of spherical training droids flew out of small gaps in the walls and began to buzz about the chamber. Arvos wordlessly drew one of his lightsabers and ignited it in a salute before he sank into a standard combat stance, lightsaber held in both hands near his right cheek.

"Your goal is simple. Disable the droids without being struck. Begin." The examiner explained before waving his hand. The droids immediately began flitting about in an erratic manner, occasionally, launching a bolt of energy towards Arvos, who alternatively dodged or deflected the bolts. Arvos eyes scanned, trying to pick a target. They didn't specifically say _how _he was supposed to disable the droids, but he didn't believe they wanted him to just cut them down with his lightsaber. That would be too easy, among other reasons to not cut down the droids. No, this was a test of endurance and finesse.

Arvos pivoted and bent out of the way of a blast before he flourished his blade in front of him to reflect a bolt from one of the droids into another, causing it to short out.

"_One down…" _

However, the moment the remote had been taken out, the rest switched up their pattern. They were firing a few more ticks often and from more difficult angles. They were pushing him to alter his style.

Well, he was happy to oblige. In a flash, Arvos had drawn his second lightsaber and both blades were whirling through the air with a high-pitched whine as the void-like blades batted the small energy bolts away. Three more remotes were downed as he continued to spin the blades with incredible speed and grace, his eyes constantly scanning the probes, but not allowing himself to fixate on one. He'd learned from previous training, as well as spars involving three or more people that the moment you narrowed your vision was the moment you lost.

More than that, he could see a pattern to their movement. It was hard to pick out in their chaotic movements and their crossing paths, but it was nonetheless there. Then it changed again.

Suddenly, a constant barrage of energy bolts was raining down on him! Arvos eyes widened as he immediately began to whirl his blades with increase urgency. He wasn't aiming for accuracy now, just trying to keep the bolts away. Then he noticed the pattern again. He needed to end this quickly. If they upped the difficulty again, he might not be able to keep up.

Suddenly, he saw it. The single moment he needed. The remotes were about to line up perfectly. He dodged one bolt and then timed his saber swings to connect with more incoming bolts, redirecting them all perfectly to the exact places the remotes were _just _about to occupy. The remaining remotes all shorted and Arvos sighed with relief. However, he didn't lower his guard just yet. Instead, he waited until the examiners called for the trial to end, which they did so swiftly with a wave of a hand. Arvos deactivated his lightsabers and clipped them to his belt before he stood up straight and waited for further instructions.

"This trial has concluded. Youngling Moro, return to the preparation chamber and await further instructions." The examiner instructed. Arvos bowed and strode back to the chamber. Once the door had closed, a lump appeared in Arvos' throat. Had he done something wrong? Were they going to say that he'd failed the trial right then and there?

"_Calm down. Don't worry about what might be. Focus on the now." _Arvos muttered to himself, reciting a paraphrased lecture from Master Yoda. Arvos closed his eyes and once again assumed his meditation position before he took a deep breath. Worrying about the examiners' decision wouldn't do him any good now. The best he could do was prepare himself for the next trial, whatever it may be.

Arvos wasn't sure how long he'd been meditating for when he finally heard the distinct _hiss _of the doors parting and allowing light to squeeze through into the widening gap. Arvos rose to his feet and took a deep breath before he stepped out of the chamber once again. The examiners hadn't moved so much as an inch since Arvos had returned to the preparation chamber. However, something was different. Arvos couldn't tell what it was, at least not with his eyes, but he knew it was there. Somehow…

"Youngling Moro, prepare yourself."

Arvos snapped to attention before he saw something approaching him. It was a training helmet. Arvos took it and dawned it, not at all bothered by the darkness that overcame his vision. He'd experienced this before many times in many different exercises in his time training to become a Jedi. As he waited for further instructions, he felt motion in the Force, followed by the sudden absence of the familiar weight of his lightsabers at his belt. This was followed by the familiar crackling noise of a training droid's blade coming online. Arvos immediate instinct was to go for his sabers but was quickly reminded that he didn't have that option at the moment. The crackle of the training blade intensified as the blade was reared back and Arvos could hear the distinctive sound of metal limbs striking the ground with each step. Arvos bent to the side to avoid the first strike and quickly backpedalled away before he found his back up against a wall that hadn't been there a few moments ago. The examiners must have done something to change the layout of the room.

However, Arvos couldn't dwell on that now. He rolled to the side to avoid a common combination that the droid employed, that being a thrust, followed by a cut in whatever direction you had dodged in. He quickly recovered before he stepped backwards, out of the way of a downward cut. He wasn't sure what the purpose of this test was. It couldn't be as simple as a challenge to survive as long as he could. While the droid certainly was going to pose a challenge, the challenge lay not in avoiding getting struck by the training saber. That was too obvious. No, he was supposed to disable the droid somehow. But how was he meant to accomplish that task? There was perhaps the manual kill switch in the neck, but Arvos was not confident that he could get to it without being struck. He'd need a plan, which was difficult to make when he was currently trying to avoid being hit with an electrified bar of durasteel. While he'd suffer no permanent injury, it would certainly sting something fierce if he was struck.

Arvos took a deep breath and re-entered himself as he heard the droid approaching him again. It was holding the weapon in front of itself, likely in a common Makashi form. However, it was going slower, approaching more cautiously. Then Arvos heard the blade waving, generating a distinct crackling sound… that was coming from behind him!

Arvos leapt into the air before performing a backflip and heard a clanging noise of droid legs rushing towards where he'd just been standing, as well as the crackling of a second training blade. As he landed, he could sense the droids, plural, that were now stalking towards him, blades poised to strike. Arvos frowned before he performed a pair of back springs to avoid the droids slashes and leapt into the air before he braced his feet on what felt like a pillar of some sorts and jumping forward. This gave him much more room to breathe as he maneuvered his way through the arena, the droids constantly following him and keeping him on his toes.

However, this dance was beginning to tire him out. He needed a moment to recover, though he doubted the droids would give him much opportunity for one. And there was nowhere he could hide from them… But what if there was somewhere they couldn't reach?

He'd been using the many pillars that had risen while he'd been unawares to avoid the droids, but his senses told him that they were probably high up enough that he could get out of range of the training droids' weapons. How long it would _stay _that way, Arvos couldn't guess. However, it would be more than enough for him to collect himself and form a plan.

Arvos could detect the droids to his left, but they were breaking off to attack him in a pincer maneuver. One droid, programmed with the Makashi form, was circling to attack him from behind. The other, programmed for Ataru, was circling to attack him from the front. Likely the Ataru droid would attack first. However, of the two, Arvos had a feeling that the Makashi droid would be very quick to capitalize on whatever move he made to avoid the Ataru droid. Well, almost all of them. Say what you will about these droids, but they weren't exactly designed or programmed for more vertical fights. It wasn't an advantage that younglings got to employ very often. In fact, Arvos had never had the opportunity to do so himself. However, it was an obvious one in retrospect.

As the droids closed in for the kill, Arvos suddenly leapt clean over the Ataru droid and kicked off one of the pillars, ascending even higher before landing on one foot atop one of the pillars. He took a deep breath and centered himself. Despite the effort of maintaining balance atop the pillar, Arvos was able to catch his breath with relative ease. Now, he could begin to plan.

Arvos frowned underneath the training helmet as he tried to figure out how to get through this trial. He could sense his lightsabers at the boarders of the arena. For the briefest moment, he considered calling them to his hands, but he stopped himself. That was too easy. The examiners had taken his lightsabers for a reason, just as they'd left them in the open to tempt him. He needed to solve the riddle of this trial without his lightsabers.

So, how did he do that? It was a certainty that he had to disable those droids somehow. He was without a weapon and he couldn't just take the droids' training blades. They were attached to the droids after all. That left hitting the activation switches or finding some way to short them out…

And just like that, Arvos could feel a plan coming together. He had two options at hand, and both of them involved getting uncomfortably close to the training droids without any means of defending himself, but he felt confident he could pull this off.

"_The Force is with me…" _Arvos murmured to himself under his breath, the words echoing louder behind the helmet. With that, he turned his attention to the droids below him. Based on his senses, they were currently stalking around him in circles below. Arvos took a deep breath as he focused. He could hear the distinct _clang _of the droids' footsteps. He needed to time this just right…

Just as the Ataru droid's left foot was about to come down, Arvos reached out with the Force and gave it a little nudge inward. The droid's balance was disrupted quite spectacularly as it tumbled sideways into the Makashi droid, sending both of them tumbling to the floor! Took this opportunity to leap to the ground and rush forward, letting the Force guide his hand as his hand darted towards the neck of the Makashi droid. He felt his fingers strike the kill switch, shutting the droid down. However, he couldn't stay put for long. The Ataru droid was already recovering and Arvos wasn't confident he could deactivate this one before it was ready to attack him again. Instead, he backpedalled and waited patiently for the droid to approach him. The droid flourished its blade a few times before it lunged forward with a thrust. Arvos could hear the crackle of the electrical charge around the blade, smell the ionized air as he bent out of the way to avoid the strike, feel the air shift as the blade passed his head. Arvos went into a backbend as the droid swiped the blade to the side and rolled to avoid a downward chop before he sprang up and let his body relax. He could already sense the droid's next move, and with it, Arvos had already won.

The droid lunged forward with another stab, but Arvos didn't just bend out of the way this time. Instead, he reached up with one hand and grabbed the droid's wrist, keeping it moving and sticking a foot out to trip it before his free hand darted forward and struck the kill switch in the droid's neck. The droid immediately began to shut down and collapsed in a heap onto the ground.

Arvos waited for a moment, unsure if the trial was over. For all he knew, this was only part one of the test and more droids could be thrown his way.

"That is enough, youngling Moro. Remove your helmet."

Arvos relaxed as he removed the training helmet, which promptly levitated out of his hands and back to the hands of the twi-lek examiner, who set it aside as he stared at Arvos. Arvos looked back, doing his best not to break eye contact, as that would be disrespectful. However, he could see in his peripheral vision that the pillars he'd used during the trial had vanished, likely moving under the floor.

"You have done well, youngling. Retrieve your lightsabers and proceed through the doorway. Soon, you will face your final trial." The examiners stated. Arvos nodded and reached his hands out to either side, summoning his lightsabers back to his hands and clipping them to his belt. Shortly afterwards, another door in front of Arvos opened. After stepping through, the door closed behind him and Arvos was left in silent darkness. After navigating to the center of the room, Arvos took a seat and began to meditate. He wasn't sure what this next trial was going to be, but whatever it was, he believed it would be the last step. Or was it the first? Or was it just one mundane step among many?

Arvos shook his head. This wasn't the time to consider these things. In this moment, he was to prepare himself to face this last trial, whatever it may be. He had his suspicions, but it was better to ignore them for now, as he had no clue if he was right or not. Better to not let his suspicions color how he went into this trial. It could make the difference between whether or not he passed or failed.

Arvos' musings were broken when he heard the doors begin to open again, light spilling through the gap. He rose to his feet and marched out the doors and into another chamber. This one was larger; structured more like the sparring halls. Across from him, another door was open, and someone had stepped through. Arvos immediately recognized this presence in the Force and he came to a stop near the center of the room. Across from him, Alvya Geran came to a stop as the two stared at each other. Strangely enough, neither of them seemed too surprised by the fact that the other was there with them.

"Younglings. Faced the previous trials, you have. Now, face one more, you shall; a duel against a fellow Jedi hopeful. Through this duel, judged, you shall be, on whether the Jedi path, you are ready to continue on." A familiar voice called out from one of the balconies, causing Arvos' back to stiffen. It was Grand Master Yoda. Arvos shook his head. It didn't matter who was observing now. In this moment, there was only himself, Alvya and the ground they stood on. Arvos bowed to Alvya as he retrieved his lightsabers from his belt and linked them together. Alvya bowed as well as she tugged her own weapon from her belt. A translucent green blade flashed into existence from Alvya's weapon while a single translucent black blade burst from Arvos' weapon. The two held their weapons up in salute before they dropped into ready positions. Alvya slipped into a standard Soresu form, with the blade held back and pointed at Arvos with her off hand extended out, palm facing her opponent. Arvos took up a general stance of having his weapon held in both hands, blade angled towards Alvya and held in front of him, ready to snap to offense or defence.

"Begin!" Master Yoda called out from his balcony. However, neither of them suddenly snapped into motion. Instead, they both started to slowly circle each other. Their eyes didn't break from each other as they continued to prowl around each other until finally, there was a distinct twitch that heralded the first blows.

Arvos lunged forward with a diagonal slash that Alvya blocked before she retreated as Arvos quickly pursued, delivering a fierce series of slashes and jabs that Alvya blocked without too much difficulty. She'd devoted plenty of study and practice to the Soresu form of lightsaber combat, and Arvos knew that he wouldn't break through her defences this quickly. Instead, he forced her into a saber lock and baited her into going on the offensive. It worked, and Alvya quickly transitioned into a series of her own strikes, employing Ataru tactics as she tried to find a way through Arvos' own defenses. However, she also knew that she'd risen to his bait and that he was undoubtedly planning something. After engaging in another saber lock, Arvos shoved her back and flourished his single blade before he raised it above him in a Djem So attack stance. Alvya recovered and returned to her Soresu stance as the two circled each other again.

This time it was Arvos who initiated the clash, lunging forward with three whirling uppercut strikes before he transitioned into a thrust, followed by a pair of diagonal slashes. Just as before, Alvya blocked each strike with practice grace before Arvos suddenly saw a sudden shift and realized that he was about to walk into a trap. Immediately pausing, he suddenly found himself on the defensive as Alvya suddenly launched a blitz of a counterattack, weaving a deadly web of plasma around Arvos, only staved off by his own weapon. Arvos frowned. She was pushing hard for the win here, and he wasn't going to hand it to her just like that. They'd only just begun.

After a few more blocks, Arvos began to raise his weapon above his head, all but inviting Alvya to make a strike. However, as she went for the finishing blow, Arvos ignited the second blade of his saberstaff, catching Alvya's blade before it could reach him. He then shoved her back and immediately broke into a whirling series of slashes, spinning and twisting to create a whirlwind of magnetized plasma around himself. His sudden shift in tactics had caught Alvya off-guard, but Arvos didn't believe the battle to be won yet. He'd employed similar tactics before, though he hadn't done a style change like this before. What's more, he still had one more switch left if the duel dragged on long enough.

However, Arvos knew now that while he could press a distinct offensive advantage, he wouldn't possess that advantage for very long. Saberstaffs were intimidating due to their rarity, as well as the psychological advantage of the two blades. However, they had their own share of weaknesses as well, which Alvya was now more than familiar with due to their sparring sessions. While Arvos could transition from one strike to another much more swiftly, and handle group duels much better, he was still confronted with the problem of not being able to put the same amount of weight behind a strike. Plus, he had a more limited range of motion for the blades. It was part and parcel of the saberstaff.

Arvos advanced, quickly going from one strike to another, spinning and flourishing the blade as he continued to press his brief advantage, not giving Alvya a moment to adjust to this change in the flow of the duel. With her Soresu training, a drawn out duel would favor her. However, he could tell that she was struggling to keep up with this sudden change. If he could break through her guard before she regained a foothold, the duel could end in his favor.

His flurry of strikes continued, pushing Alvya back more and more until they were engaged in a saber lock once more. However, Alvya clearly didn't intend to stay in the lock very long and twisted her blade before sliding underneath Arvos' own blade and rose to her feet behind him, spinning and going for a horizontal slash at Arvos' exposed back. Arvos thought fast and bent forward, flourishing the blade around to hold it parallel to his spine. He could feel the impact of Alvya's emerald blade glancing off his own void-like one and hear the distinct _snap _of two lightsabers coming into contact with one another. He spun around and found himself on the defensive as Alvya suddenly struck out with a series of swift and merciless slashes that had Arvos surprised. This aggressive fighting was one seen out of form five, not form four as Alvya tended to practice. Caught off guard, Arvos was steadily pushed back and realized he needed to do something to regain control of the fight, otherwise he'd be on the losing side of the duel. Fortunately, he had one last trick in the bag, but he didn't want to use it just yet. Alvya would be expecting it, as it was how he had turned the tables on her before. So, he kept up as long as he could, blocking strike after strike with his saberstaff before he saw an opportunity and knocked Alvya's blade aside before he lashed out with a kick that sent Alvya sprawling!

She was quick to recover though, and with a _snap-hiss _of her lightsaber, she was ready for battle once more. Arvos idly twirled his own weapon before taking up a new stance. The hand holding the saberstaff was held out from his body, while the other hand was extended out behind him. Alvya raised her blade in a salute once more before she settled into an Ataru stance. The two stared at each other in silence for a few moments before they both leapt forward at once, blades whirling as they broke into a rapid exchange of strikes, blocks, rapidly trading advantage and disadvantage back and forth until They both broke off the engagement, with Arvos going into a back spring, followed by a spinning backflip. When he finally landed, he was no longer holding a saberstaff, but two lightsabers. He immediately rushed forward before Alvya could recover and launched into a fast and brutal series of cuts and thrusts that Alvya simply couldn't keep up with. This time, the duel was over. After a quick series of motions, Arvos delivered a swift blow to Alvya's wrist, causing her to drop her lightsaber in pain and surprised before she realized that she had another lightsaber blade leveled at her chest.

"Concluded, the duel is!"

Arvos immediately deactivated his lightsabers and clipped them to his belt as he offered a hand to Alvya, who took it graciously.

"Good duel. Quick thinking with the style change mid-flip." Alvya complimented to Arvos, who allowed a brief grin to pass over his face.

"Hey, you really had me on my toes for a good stretch there. If I hadn't gotten that kick in, that could've been it for me. When did everyone start practicing Djem So without me knowing about it?" He complimented back as they returned to where they had began their duel and turned to face Master Yoda.

"Hmm… Fought well, both of you did. Demonstrate your skill with a lightsaber, you did. However, _more _than that, did I see… Control, yes, control I saw in you. Restraint and flexibility of mind, yes, see those too, I did…" Master Yoda stated as he gazed at them.

"Hmm… Yes… Jedi, you may yet be…" Yoda stated with a certain finality. Arvos and Alvya's eyes widened as they looked at each other, then Master Yoda, then back to each other and back to Master Yoda.

"Leave us, younglings. Much to discuss, we have." Yoda instructed. A door to the arena opened, which Arvos and Alvya were _very _quick to depart through. Once they stepped through, a pair of Temple Guards were waiting to escort them back to the sprawling corridors of the Jedi Temple. The walk back was quiet, as they didn't want to accidently break into wordless noises of giddy glee in front of the Temple Guards. That wouldn't be a very good look. However, once they were away from the masked Jedi, they immediately started rushing about, trying to find Tala to share the news. She'd gone for her trials before them, so she should have been finished by now.

"I mean, we don't have masters yet, but Master Yoda basically said we're at least _ready _to become Padawans." Alvya whispered with barely contained excitement as they tried to locate Tala.

"I wonder who we're going to be assigned to… It's almost unreal…" Arvos added in his own hushed tone as they kept scanning for their Zabrak friend. However, it turned out they were spotted first, having apparently been searching in the wrong direction. Both of them jumped a bit when they felt a hand grab onto their shoulders and they whirled around to see Tala standing behind them, looking out of breath and clearly distressed.

"Have you seen Garo?!" Tala asked desperately. Arvos and Alvya shook their heads and were about to ask what was going on, only for Tala to grab their hands and dragged them along with her before breaking into a run through the Temple. Eventually they reached the dorms and Tala slammed her hand against the operation panel for one particular door. It was Garo's. However, when the door slid open, you could have been forgiven for believing that no one had lived in this room for a while. It was picked clean of all evidence that Garo had ever occupied it. None of his meager belongings, no datapads that Garo typically had laying about in his room for studying purposes, nothing. The bed was made with military precision and with completely fresh sheets. However, there was one thing that served as evidence that _someone _had been here recently. There was a handheld holoprojector sitting on the bed. It was one of the many that you could find in the Jedi Temple, rigged to fry itself if taken outside it. Arvos slowly walked over to the bed and picked up the projector. Having noticed what Arvos had found, Tala and Alvya slowly walked over and stared at it. Arvos didn't want to turn on the projector, but he knew he had to. This was the only clue as to where Garo was. With a squeeze, the projector flickered to life, revealing the monochrome blue projection of their friend.

"_Hello Arvos, Tala, Alvya… I… I'm sorry. I know that this is a terrible way to tell you this, but… _sigh… _I can't follow you on this path. I thought I could keep going, persevere through it but… I can't. So… I've decided to leave the Order."_

* * *

**And that's where we're ending it! **_**Man, **_**this went on WAY longer than I thought it would! I like it though! **

**Creativity: How many people do you think saw that ending coming?**

**Author: Eh… Half and half? I honestly couldn't say.**

**So yeah, we're having Garo formally withdrawing from the Jedi Order. It's gonna be fun to write out how this is gonna impact the rest of the cast. Also, we've got at least two of our younglings ready to continue on the path of the Jedi, though who knows if they will remain this way. **

**There's not much else to say here. I'd say that around chapter 10 is when I'll be able to go into more detail, so remember to pester me around then!**

**Well, that's about it from me! Thanks for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Greetings, everyone! I'm writing this mere hours after finishing my last exam of the year, so needless to say, I'm in a VERY good mood! And, as a bonus, I've got a **_**surplus **_**of juice in the B.T.I. that I can't wait to pour into as many chapters as I can!**

**Creativity: Yes, the off-hours have allowed me to replenish stock quite well! Especially with that new padded wheel you got!**

**Author: And that's not even counting for the fact that Star Wars Day is coming up! Mark my words, I will have **_**at least **_**one chapter ready for Star Wars Day! And hopefully one for the day after (Revenge of the Fifth and all that)**

**Now then, before we go any further, let's answer the chapter 6 reviews!**

**Creativity: You say that like there's gonna be more than one.**

**Author: thanks a lot, killjoy. But there is still a review from one loyal FallenAssassin9! So, here it is:**

**FallenAssassin9: That chapter was simultaneously really hard and really easy to write. It was easy because I can really easily envision action scenes in my head and I like to think I can think up a good trial as well, but the space in between them and knowing how long to have a trial run for, that's harder. Also, I'd say that next to Fallen Order, Jedi Academy is my favorite Star Wars game. I'm hoping that the next Star Wars game that Respawn makes has a character builder in it, now that they've shown it works. Hopefully EA will keep its money-grubbing insect fingers stuffed in its pockets around Star Wars for a while. As for Garo leaving, I was planning on that since the beginning. I got a feeling there will be… mixed reactions to where I'm going with him, but I'm doing it anyway.**

**Now then, I think we've kept you all waiting for long enough. It's bloody Star Wars day when this comes out, and it's time to celebrate it! Before we do though, here's the Discord password: ****xtydzBf**

**Creativity: And now, it is TIME! LET US BEGIN!**

**Author: INDEED! Let us proudly present chapter 7 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade!**

* * *

Arvos wasn't sure how long he'd been stood in place, nor how many times the message had repeated itself. No one had deactivated the datapad and it had looped through the whole message several times, and yet no one seemed to have the presence of mind to stop it. They were all paralyzed in place, their minds constantly replaying the first bit of the message over and over again.

"_Hello Arvos, Tala, Alvya… I… I'm sorry. I know that this is a terrible way to tell you this, but… _sigh… _I can't follow you on this path. I thought I could keep going, persevere through it but… I can't. So… I've decided to leave the Order."_

Arvos felt as if everything in the world had stopped the moment he'd heard those last six words.

_"I've decided to leave the Order."_

It kept echoing in his head. His pulse was pounding in his ears. It wasn't beating fast, but it was drumming rhythmically, deafeningly…

"_I've decided to leave the Order."_

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, someone broke the loop.

"Why…" Arvos breathed, his breath hitching as he said it.

_"Garo… Why?" _Alvya asked as a small film of tears began to slowly well up in her eyes.

_"…" _

_Tala didn't say anything, but the question was obvious. Why? Why had Garo left? Arvos couldn't grasp it. He knew that something had been going on with Garo. That much had been obvious. But, to reach the point where he was abandoning the Order like this? To leave them without even saying goodbye to their faces? _

Arvos felt as if his innards were trying to compress themselves as his gaze remained rooted to the holoprojector. It was just beginning the loop again.

"_Hello Arvos, Tala, Alvya… I… I'm sorry. I know that this is a terrible way to tell you this, but… _sigh… _I can't follow you on this path. I thought I could keep going, persevere through it but… I can't. So… I've decided to leave the Order." _The projection of Garo said before it continued. The pain and regret in Garo's voice was gut-wrenching to them all.

_"__After the Temple bombing, I was really shaken. I wasn't even really aware of what was going on until I heard that Padawan Tano had been expelled from the order to stand trial before Republic Senate. Part of me was relieved, even… happy to hear that whoever had orchestrated the bombing had been caught, but then Master Skywalker managed to find the true mastermind in Padawan Offee… I saw the confession and… Something __changed… __I started to see everything differently. The war, the Order and its place in the galaxy… I began to doubt the Order, the Republic and especially myself." _The hologram of Garo explained as he took a shaky breath and put a hand over one eye, rubbing it in discomfort before he lowered it and continued his explanation.

_"I started desperately looking for __something __to reaffirm my faith in the Republic, the Jedi and… I just couldn't. Everywhere I looked, I just found more and more that pushed me away. I tried to move past this, tried desperately to trust in the Force that everything would work out, that I'd find __something __to believe in again, but… I just can't. And I can't force myself to continue down a path that I don't believe in, so I've decided to leave; to find a path I __can __believe in. I didn't want to tell you all this because I didn't want to cast a shadow over the paths you all choose to walk. I know that this goodbye is unfair to you, but I couldn't face you like this. Hopefully, should we ever meet again, I'll have found my path again… Goodbye…"_

The recording looped back to the beginning, but this time Arvos shut if off and let his arm fall limply to his side. It all felt wrong. Everything just felt… wrong…

For as long as Arvos could remember, Alvya, Tala and Garo were there. They were always a part of each others lives. Through ups and downs, triumphs and defeats, they'd always been there for each other; the constant. The center. And now it was missing a piece.

"What do we do…?" Tala asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"I… I don't know…" Arvos answered.

"We should all be here, celebrating our passing the trials…" Alvya murmured, the quiver in her voice only making Arvos and Tala come closer to their own breaking points. Why him? Why now? Why, why, why? The same question, over and over again: why?

Eventually, they finally had enough and turned around, leaving the empty room behind. As they walked away, Arvos just barely heard the clatter of something falling to the ground just behind them and almost didn't bother to turn around until he realized that the weight of the holoprojector was missing from his hands. He turned to see it slowly turning on the ground, spinning on its rim until it settled down. Arvos slowly bent down and gingerly lifted up the device before slipping it into a pocket in his robes.

"What do we do?" Alvya asked once more and just like the other times that one of the three had asked that question, none of them had an answer. They just aimlessly wandered out of the dorms and started to listlessly wander the halls of the Jedi Temple, eventually coming to the main foyer of the temple. Their eyes all slowly turned to look out through the open door of the temple. Just hours earlier, their friend had departed the Jedi Temple through those very doors. It was quite possible, probable in fact, that they would never see him again.

"We didn't even get a chance to say goodbye…" Alvya murmured. Even after all this, Arvos' head was still swimming. Everything had an air of unreality to it, as if he was in the middle of a terrible dream. Maybe this was all a dream. Maybe he'd wake up soon and Garo would be there for morning lessons.

But he didn't. And Garo wasn't. And Arvos could only stand there with his friends, numb pain sitting in their stomachs like a durasteel lump.

* * *

The next few days were a bit of a haze for Arvos. They attended their regularly scheduled lessons, they got in some saber practice and they studied in the archives, but it didn't feel like anything was really happening; as if their bodies were just moving along by default. Other younglings had noticed quickly, as had their instructors, though no one approached them at first. The instructors already knew what was going on, though it seemed that they opted to not intervene just yet. They were confident that giving them time to work through their emotions was the best solution, though they had put word out to the council to consider counselling for the trio, given how numbed and unresponsive they had become as of late.

There was hardly any conversation between them anymore, beyond greetings and occasional Smalltalk. They weren't even gathering during their spare time like they used to. They would just bid each other farewell and leave to do something in the temple, be it studying or saber practice. Arvos in particular spent plenty of time in the sparring halls, training on his own. However, it was plain as day to everyone who saw him training that he wasn't really there. He was just going through the motions. There was no intent or energy behind his strikes or flourishes; just bland movement.

After finishing yet another set, Arvos checked the time and resisted the urge to employ some of the choicer words employed by elder Jedi when they thought the younglings weren't in earshot as he realized that he was going to be running late for lessons and hurriedly packed his things and started making his way to class. He was a minute or so late, but punctuality was something expected as a very bare minimum from younglings early in their Jedi education, and it was often frowned upon to not be early and prepared for the instructors once younglings were permitted to roam the Jedi Temple on their own.

Arvos expected quite the lecture for his tardiness, but the instructor, a female Zabrak, was completely silent as Arvos hurried in, trying to make himself appear as small as he possibly could as he made his way to his usual spot with Tala and Alvya. However, instead of a talking-to from their instructor like Arvos had been convinced was coming, there was nothing; just stares from the younglings and a stern, yet sympathetic look from the instructor. He wasn't sure which was more stomach-churning: the oppressive silence or the scolding he'd been anticipating.

The lessons passed without incident and when the end came, the three soon-to-be padawans rose and started to leave. However, they found their progress impeded by their instructor, who gently pulled them aside to have a word with them.

"I know that this has been a tumultuous time for the three of you, and I completely understand why. However, as cruel as it may sound, you need to find a way to move past this. I know you three recently completed your trials to become Padawans, thus you will in all likelihood be assigned to a master and will be placed on the front lines of the war, and you must be present of mind to preserve your own life, and the lives of those who will be placed under your command." The Zabrak informed them with that same mix of sternness and sympathy. However, she wasn't done quite yet.

"I've already made sure that the Council will inform your future masters to be aware of what has happened and to assist you in working through this period of mourning. However, I also recommend that the three of you seek out counselling in the meantime. You three are hardly the first case of this in the Order, and the counsellors well undoubtedly be able to help you move forward." The instructor concluded. The three of them bowed to her silently and filed out of the room. They didn't have anything else to do today, so it would either be more training, studying, or… nothing.

The trio walked aimlessly through the hallways before eventually going their separate ways. Arvos was still mulling over what their instructor had told them (as best he could, anyway) when he ended up in one of the hallways overlooking the Coruscant skyline. The sun was on its descent, but the sky was still bright blue. He could see the lines of speeder traffic crisscrossing around the temple, tiny specs of people in the distance that were bustling about their daily lives, military ships coming to and from the massive Venator class Star Destroyers that floated miles above the city…

At first he wondered where Garo was now. Where was he? Was he still on Coruscant, looking for work elsewhere in the city? was he on a civilian transport to another world in search of this new path he desired? Was he getting directly involved with the war effort, or was he finding a neutral planet to avoid the galaxywide conflict altogether?

Just then, it occurred to Arvos that he was soon going to be involved in that same war. He'd soon be at the side of a full-fledged member of the Order, riding one of those transports up to one of those Star Destroyers and fighting alongside the clones of the Grand Army. It was honestly quite a lot to take in. Despite how prominent the war was to the Jedi, there had been a concerted effort by the Order to keep the younglings away from the war for as best they could, discounting new lessons on leadership and military strategy. Of course, once they were declared Padawans and assigned to a master, then they would be thrust into the war, finding themselves charged with leading and commanding soldiers and possibly leading them to their deaths. Besides, regardless of the Jedi's best efforts, the war was inescapable. Everywhere you looked, there was evidence of the conflict. The warships, the news (that the Jedi weren't technically supposed to get, but it happened), the Jedi that returned to the temple on leave from the war effort, no matter where you went, the war was always waiting to remind you that it was out there.

"You seem troubled, youngling."

Arvos jumped a little bit at the familiar voice as he turned around to see Master Marahl Corvis standing behind him.

"Master Corvis! Sorry, I was just thinking…" Arvos stuttered out quickly, which caused Marahl to chuckle a little.

"A dangerous thing for a youngling." She joked as she started to look at the view Coruscant view once more.

"However, I don't believe you were simply lost in idle thought. What troubles you, young one?" Master Marahl asked Arvos once more. Arvos sighed as he looked out the window once more.

"One of the younglings in my clan, the one I told you about before, has formally withdrawn from the Order." Arvos revealed, earning a look of surprise from Master Marahl.

"I see. Well, there have been a number of Jedi that have chosen to leave the Order over the course of the war, but I've not yet heard of younglings leaving. Do you know why he left?" Master Marahl asked. Arvos nodded slowly as he closed his eyes.

"He left the Temple while me and the others in our clan were participating in our Padawan trials, so we didn't even know he was gone until it was too late. He left a holoprojector behind with a recording the explained that he was leaving and why…" Arvos started to explain, taking a deep breath and releasing it before he continued.

"He said that after the Temple Bombing, he… he started to see the Jedi, the Republic, the war, all of it in a different way. He said he lost faith in the Jedi, and when he tried desperately to find that faith again, things only got worse for him, until he came to the conclusion that he couldn't follow the path of the Jedi any longer…" Arvos explained, a shake evident in his voice throughout the whole recount. Master Marahl's lips had visibly tightened throughout the explanation.

"I'm so sorry, youngling… It's no wonder you are in such an emotional turbulence now." Master Marahl tried to console. Arvos just hung his head.

"I just… I knew something was wrong for a long time. Me, Tala and Alvya all knew something had happened to him after the Temple Bombing, but we didn't do anything. We thought it was just shock from the attack and that he'd recover. We didn't think to speak to him, the instructors, masters or the Council, despite a myriad of opportunities… I just can't help but feel he would still be here if any of us had thought to maybe do something. Maybe he wouldn't have felt so lost… I failed him." Arvos murmured, the guilt and pain in his voice running deep. However, Master Marahl wasn't having any of it.

"Youngling, you did not fail your friend. Even if you had, you are hardly the only party at fault. The war has taken a toll on all of us, even those who haven't yet been thrust into battle. Besides, despite how tight-knit youngling clans can be, you would hardly be the only ones to notice if your former clan-mate was undergoing a crisis of faith such as this, and they would have been in a greater position to intervene. If blame is to lie with anyone, it is with us; Not you and your fellow younglings." Marahl lectured Arvos, who stayed silent throughout said lecture and for some time afterwards.

"… I think my biggest regret is that I didn't get to see him off myself." Arvos finally said after several long minutes of silence.

"I can imagine so. However, you must learn to let go of those regrets, no matter how hard it is. Every intelligent lifeform in the galaxy has had and will have regrets, and those who say otherwise are either liars or very dangerous people. However, we cannot hold onto those regrets, lest they consume us." Master Marahl continued. Arvos wasn't sure where it was coming from, but he could hear tones of regret in her voice. Arvos considered asking her about it, but he thought better of it. It wasn't his place to pry.

"Youngling Moro."

Arvos turned around and saw a human male Jedi knight standing behind him and Master Marahl. He bowed respectfully to Master Marahl, who returned the gesture in kind. Arvos followed suit as well.

"I'm here to inform you that the council has requested your presence tomorrow. There will be a full-fledged member of the Order sent to escort you to the council chambers tomorrow morning. Ensure you are prepared." The Knight informed Arvos before his attention was drawn away by another Jedi engaging in a conversation with him.

_"Great, one more thing to be stressed about…"_ Arvos thought to himself as he turned back to Master Marahl and bowed to her.

"Thank you for speaking to me, Master Corvis. I'll take my leave now." Arvos bade farewell before he hurried off. While he hadn't said anything, his conversation with Master Marahl had helped a little. The pain was still there, but he no longer felt quite so lost.

Master Marahl watched as Arvos walked away as a very small smile played across her face. She could already see a change in Arvos. It was a small one to be sure, but it was one step forward for him.

"You didn't say anything to him?" The Jedi Knight who had delivered the Council's summons asked as Arvos rounded a corner and stepped out of sight. Marahl shook her head, still with that same smile playing across her lips.

"Now, why would I want to spoil the surprise?" Marahl replied as she turned around and strolled away.

Arvos' wanderings eventually took him to the Archives, where he decided to stop to continue his research on that strange sword he'd had those strange dreams about way back when. He hadn't seriously done anything to search for it for quite some time now, so perhaps the Force would guide him to this ever-elusive answer, though he still wanted to have some sort of plan in mind for how he wanted to search with the strange blade.

"Perhaps I should restart my search with the origins of Jedi weaponry and see if I can find any other leads from there." Arvos murmured to himself as he sought out Master Jocasta Nu, who was just finishing up assisting another youngling.

"Excuse me, master. Am I interrupting?" Arvos inquired in greeting. Master Jocasta looked up from the youngling she was speaking to and smiled in recognition.

"Ah, Youngling Moro! Actually, your timing is quite impeccable. Youngling Daran was just asking me where he might find information about Lightsaber design for reading given to him by Master Plo Koon." Master Jocasta replied, smiling a little more as Arvos was immediately hooked like a fish.

"Well, for getting started, I'd recommend Philosophy of Combat by Battlemaster Kar Borol, A Jedi's Weapon volumes one and two by Master Jire Ceride, and Lightsaber Form and Fundamentals by Master Darrge Marle. That should be a good foundation to work from before moving up to the more advanced studies." Arvos suggested. Master Jocasta nodded with a smile.

"Excellent suggestions Youngling Moro, though I hardly expected anything less, given how you've practically read everything there is to read regarding lightsabers that isn't kept within the holocron vault. I'm sure you can handle the rest, Youngling Daran?" Master Jocasta asked the other youngling, who nodded.

"Yes, Master Nu. Thank you Master Nu, Youngling Moro." Youngling Daran replied before hurrying off to find the recommended readings. With the latest youngling assisted, she turned her attention to Arvos.

"Now then, I'm assuming you're here to find one of the few remaining texts that you haven't picked clean of all information." Master Jocasta inquired with a wry grin. Arvos nodded.

"I'm resuming my search for that blade I mentioned to you a few years back and I've decided to start at the very beginning. Could you give me any recommendations regarding all Jedi weaponry pre-lightsaber?" Arvos inquired. Master Jocasta immediately walked over to a terminal and began to sift through the archives index with borderline terrifying efficiency.

"Hmmm… I believe that these will suit your needs nicely." Master Jocasta replied as she handed Arvos a datapad with a list of reading material on it. As Arvos examined it, he could pick out a few items that he had read before, but there was a few items he hadn't gotten to yet.

"This is gonna take a while…" Arvos muttered, though he was still smiling a bit as he went to track down the first item on his list that he hadn't read yet. If he really was only a few days out from being officially declared a Padawan and assigned to a master, he probably wouldn't be able to spend much time in the Archives and search for the mysterious blade. That meant that he was going to make the most of what time he had.

It didn't take him long to find the first item on his list, which was an ancient study of the art of crafting the archaic weapons that the first Jedi used before the invention of the lightsaber. Arvos wasn't sure how he'd missed this study before, though he had missed things in the texts that he had read and reread before, so it wasn't as unbelievable that he'd missed an entire study. After settling down at a desk, Arvos began to read. He had a lot of it to do, and precious little time to do it.

* * *

_**And that's where we're ending this chapter!**_

_**Creativity: Huh. I thought we were gonna get to the Padawan section today…**_

_**Author: I thought so too, but I think it's better to do it this way. Honestly, I thought we were going to get a lot further into the story in general than we actually are, but I think that this is a good pace. We should get to the end of things by chapter ten by my calculations. Having a chapter that's exploring the fallout from Garo's decision is a good bit of winding down before we jump into the insanity of the plot we have planned.**_

_**Creativity: Is there anything we need to address here before we end the chapter?**_

_**Author: Well, there is the State of Affairs section we've set up on our main page, though I'm not sure that will be relevant when this chapter goes up.**_

_**Yeah, I did finish this chapter in time for Star Wars Day 2020, but I'm not sure it will be up that day. If that is indeed the case, **__**then **__**you should check the State of Affairs section I was talking about. **_

_**Well, I think that's where we're calling it for today! Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time!**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Greetings all, and welcome to chapter 8 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade! How's everyone doing?**

**Creativity: I imagine as best anyone can do, given the situation**

**Author: Hopefully things will be starting to get back to some measure of normal by the time this comes out. We have no idea when that will be, but if you read our State of Affairs post, you probably have a rough estimate of that. But enough about that! Let's talk Star Wars! **

**So, as of this writing, I've finished watching TCW season 7, and can I just say that the last four episodes are easily the best of the whole series? **

_**(whispering in the background) **_**What do you mean I can't? (**_**more whispering) **_**What do you mean it's subjective? I mean it is but come on! I don't think… (**_**more whispering**_**) No, they were actually just that good… (**_**whispering intensifies) **_**You know what, I'll just break it down!**

**So, the Siege of Mandalore was fantastic. Seeing Ahsoka charging into battle alongside the Clones and Mandalorians was a thrill to watch, and **_**then **_**we get Maul. Whooooo BOY do I love Maul's journey through this show! From his rediscovery as a broken shell of himself, to his restoration, his journey for vengeance and watching him come so close to his goals time and time again, only to have the rug yanked out from under him, his fear of Sidious and his knowledge that everything is doomed to crumble and that it cannot be stopped now, the way he sees himself reflected in Ahsoka, the duels he's had… I ah… heheh… I really like animated Maul.**

**Then there's Rex in these last two episodes, but especially the last one. The knowledge of what's going on in his brother's heads and how he and they are powerless to do anything other than look on and watch as their bodies execute on the programming to kill the Jedi they've spent years fighting alongside… Well, it's gutwrenching.**

**I could go on, but I think I'll leave that to the next chapter. We haven't even gotten to the review responses yet:**

**FallenAssassin9: Well, we probably won't be doing the counselling thing this chapter. We've got... other plans... Heheheheheheh... People are gonna hate me later.**

**And that's all the reviews! Now then, considering I've got a few thoughts on the conclusion to TCW up there, I think you all might be getting a bit impatient for the chapter proper to start, so let's do that. Creativity, password if you will.**

**Creativity: Right on it, sir! Here's the Discord password: ****xtydzBf**

**Author: Thank you, Creativity! And now…**

**Allow us to proudly present chapter 8 of Star Wars: Twilight Blade!**

* * *

Just a few short days ago, Arvos had been decided that the leadup to and his participation in his trials to become worthy of the Padawan title was the most nerve-wracking time in his life. The constant training, studying, second-guessing and rechecking, all the while with what felt like an electrical charge running through every nerve in his body and a tightness in his stomach that refused to go away until the very end had been significant arguments for determining that this was the most stressed out he had ever been.

Now, he was facing a very dogged contender for that position as he marched stiffly through the corridors of the Jedi temple to the Jedi Council chamber by Jedi Master Evor Se, and he had never felt so stressed in his entire life. His heart was pounding in his chest, despite his best efforts to calm it, his gait was stiff, and to call his nerves 'twitchy' was to put it incredibly mildly. Still, he did his best to calm himself. He recited the Jedi Code in his head a few times, he reminded himself that he had nothing to worry about and he distracted himself by recalling some old philosophies of lightsaber combat from some of the Order's most legendary duelists. After all, meeting the council members while sweating buckets and twitching at so much as the movement of a hair would probably be grounds enough to rescind the council's decision to assign him to a master.

Arvos had forgone his usual wear for traditional Jedi attire. He felt it would make him more presentable to the council than his normal clothes, and the last thing he wanted was to appear sloppy before the council. He'd polished his lightsabers the previous night and made sure to wake up early so that he would have time to make sure he looked presentable to the Council, but that had done little to assuage his obvious nervousness as he had waited for the Council's Jedi escort to arrive. Still, he was relaxing now, and hopefully he would stay relaxed by the time they got to the Council chambers.

Arvos snapped back to reality when he realized that they were just a few feet away from the turbolift up to the Council chambers. He took a deep breath and centered himself as he followed Master Se into the waiting lift. As the doors hissed shut behind him, the reality of his current situation seemed to catch up with Arvos all at once.

"_Force, I am about to meet with the Jedi Council, and I AM NOT READY FOR THIS AT ALL!" _His brain treacherously shrieked, causing a new wave of nervousness and panic to surge through Arvos, along with a frustration at his momentary lapse in composure, even if it hadn't manifested outwardly so far as he knew. Deep breaths, Jedi Code, happy place of lightsaber lore. It took a few repetitions of this cycle of exercises to calm himself down again, but he once again was calm, and with only a couple of minutes remaining until they reached their final stop.

"It's understandable to be a little on edge when you're being brought before the Council for the first time, but I assure you that you have nothing to worry about." Master Se told him. Arvos flinched a bit but relaxed quickly enough. If Master Se said there was nothing to worry about, then Arvos thought he should take that to heart. He composed himself for the umpteenth time and managed to stay that way for the remainder of the turbolift ride up to the council chambers. As he and Master Se stepped out of the turbolift, Arvos could see the council members all assembled and seated in the gray and red chairs. Arvos had never been in the chamber before and felt a sense of awe, even though it was rather spartan in décor. Really, the only notable things about it were the view and chairs.

Arvos continued to walk down the hallway, though he noted that Master Se wasn't following. Arvos wanted to pause and look back, but he fought down that instinct and kept walking towards the council. Master Se was only here to make sure he got to the council. So far as Arvos was aware of, he had no involvement with this meeting.

Arvos came to a stop in the center of the room and bowed respectfully to the Council The Council watched silently as Arvos straightened up and waited for them to address him. Naturally, there were a few absent members of the Council, namely Masters Obi Wan Kenobi, Shaak Ti, Plo Koon and Ki-Adi Mundi. That was understandable. After all, the couldn't all just immediately withdraw from whatever battle they were engaged in simply to speak to a single padawan.

Master Yoda was the first to speak.

"Youngling Moro… Know why you stand before us, do you?" Master Yoda asked Arvos, who shook his head a little.

"I can hazard a few guesses, Master. However, I feel it would be presumptuous to assume they are correct." Arvos replied. It was true. He'd taken more time to think about what the Council would want to speak to him for, and he had come up with a few likely ideas, but he didn't want to put too much stock into them, lest he be completely wrong. Master Yoda looked like he was holding back a smile, but Arvos couldn't tell.

"Arvos Moro, initiate of the Jedi Order, kneel." Master Windu ordered. Arvos sank to one knee and bowed his head.

"Initiate, you have been tested. You have been challenged. And, you have been found worthy to take the next step. Master Corvis, step forward." Master Windu continued. Arvos' eyes widened but he didn't budge, even as he heard footsteps coming from the same corridor he'd entered the Council chambers from.

"Master Marahl Corvis, it is with the Council's blessing that you do take initiate Arvos Moro as your padawan learner. Do you accept this charge?" Master Windu questioned.

"I accept this charge, Masters." The voice of Master Corvis answered from just behind Arvos and off to the side a little bit.

"Then by the right of the Council, but the will of the Force, I hereby confer the rank of Jedi Padawan to Arvos Moro and assign him to Jedi Master Marahl Corvis. Master Corvis, if you would complete the rite..." Windu instructed. Arvos felt a pair of hands begin to fiddling with his hair for a few moment or two before they moved away. Arvos could feel something different and he knew exactly what it was. He wanted to reach up and feel it, but he restrained himself. Now wasn't the time.

"Rise, Padawan of the Jedi Order." Master Windu ordered. Arvos did just that, doing his absolute best to not start freaking out all over again. However, it wasn't actually that hard to restrain himself since he was possibly in shock.

"Teach well, Master Corvis. Learn well, Padawan Moro." Master Yoda said in farewell. The new student and teacher both bowed to the Council and departed from the chamber. As they stepped into the turbolift, Arvos felt his entire body relax and he suddenly slumped forward while exhaling a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Master Marahl snickered a little bit as Arvos immediately felt embarrassed and quickly composed himself.

"I felt the same way when I was a Padawan, and so has every other Padawan that I've trained to knighthood." Master Marahl shared as she also composed herself. Arvos glanced up at her with an odd look in his eye.

"You knew about this yesterday, didn't you…" Arvos questioned as the turbolift descended.

"Well, I should hope so. I did put my name in to be your assigned master, after all." Master Marahl replied with an amused grin that had Arvos' eyes widening even more.

"So… What happens now?" Arvos asked. Master Marahl's smile faded a little bit.

"Well, I was hoping I'd be able to arrange for a few weeks in the Temple to begin your training properly, but that is sadly not possible. Master Luminara requires aid in the Felucia campaign and I've been assigned to the task by Council. I was only permitted to stay this long because I was considering taking on a new apprentice." Master Marahl explained. Arvos frowned. He was afraid of that. While this was a big step on his path to becoming a full-fledged member of the Order, becoming a Padawan meant you were going to find yourself on the front lines of the Clone Wars, alongside your master and a Clone unit. Even though Chancellor Palpatine was insistent that the War was going to come to an end soon, the people were losing hope that this was indeed the truth. They were losing faith in the Senate and the Jedi Order, which left the Chancellor as the only person the public was placing trust in.

"When do we leave, Master?" Arvos asked, trying to keep the apprehension and sullenness out of his voice.

"Two days time. I imagine you don't have very much packing to do, so we can begin your training properly tomorrow. I imagine you also want to bid farewell to your clan before you leave. It could be a long time before you see them again." Master Marahl suggested. Arvos nodded in acknowledgement as the turbolift finally reached their stop and they disembarked. Master Marahl turned to face Arvos and stared down at him. Her entire attitude had changed to one that Arvos had seen in several other Jedi during his long time living in the Temple. Master Marahl was now acting as a teacher.

"Padawan, if you would join me down in the sparring halls, we may begin the first steps in your training." Master Marahl instructed before she began to stride off towards the aforementioned sparring halls. Arvos hurried after her as they continued through the temple.

"Now then, you've taken on quite the workload as a duelist, if I'm not mistaken. Twin sabers with an interlock system to form a saberstaff, correct?" Master Marahl questioned as they continued towards the sparring halls.

"Yes Master, that's right." Arvos confirmed. Master Marahl stroke her chin as they descended a flight of stairs.

"A bit much to tackle for a youngling, even one such as yourself." Master Marahl noted as they turned a corner and found the sparring halls right in front of them.

"I know, Master. I believe that I have risen to the challenge and have sparring victories to attest to that, but I also know that my choice in weapon is unusual and can leave an unprepared opponent floundering. It's possible that the majority of my sparring victories are owed more to those who were unprepared for battle against dual blades or a saberstaff, and less to my own skill." Arvos replied. Master Marahl nodded.

"Definitely a possibility, but we'll soon find out." She declared as they stepped onto a sparring field. Master Marahl shrugged her shoulders and cast off the dark brown cloak she wore in the Jedi temple. Underneath she wore very a very dark gray sleeveless tunic with synth leather on the shoulders, each of which had the symbol of the Jedi Order embossed in silver on them. On her forearms were _very _shiny metal bracers that had some sort of exotic flower engraved on them. Around her waist she wore a belt as well as a chain-armored, segmented kama that was a dark chrome in color with silver fleur de lis laid into it. Her pants were the same as any other Jedi's, save for the dark, silvery gray color and jet-black synth leather boots.

Belted at her side was an elegant lightsaber. It was about an inch longer than the standard lightsaber and it was clearly designed with Master Marahl's apparent aesthetic in mind. It was silver with black synth leather wrapped around it in an intricate pattern, with the black emitter sleeve having twin silver claws that were elegantly sculpted to hug close to the blade when ignited. At the bottom was a black metal ring that was obviously used for clipping the saber to one's belt. Master Marahl extended her hand out to the side and summoned the weapon to her grasp before sparking it to life. The vivid green blade let out a high-pitched hum as she flourished it a few times before holding it up in a salute.

"Prepare to defend yourself, Padawan!" Master Marahl declared as she eyed him with a steely gaze. Arvos a brief surge of nervousness run through his body, but he pushed that sensation away. This wasn't a situation to be afraid of defeat. He was going up against a master of the Order. He obviously didn't stand a chance. This wasn't about victory or defeat. This was a test.

Arvos pulled his lightsabers from his belt and linked them together before igniting one inky black blade and holding it up in front of him in a mirror of Master Marahl's own salute. The two then fell into their own ready positions and began to stare each other down. Marahl's was a classic form IV stance; blade held in both hands close to the head and with their dominant side pointed towards the opponent. Arvos opted for a less traditional stance, instead holding his lightsaber at an angle with his left arm stretched across his body to grip the blade behind his right hand. The blade was angled diagonally across his body, angled towards the floor. Master Marahl raised her eyebrow at the stance but didn't comment as she prowled forward. Arvos slowly circled, loosening the fingers in his left hand as he waited for Master Marahl to make a move. Finally, she lunged forward with an overhead strike! Arvos leaned into the strike and let the blade strike his own, using the angle of his blade to cause Master Marahl's weapon to slide a bit before he shoved back! However, Master Marahl had already disengaged and was ready for him, going for side slash this time. Arvos blocked this strike as well, his blade pointed towards the ground before he twisted it up, trying to force Master Marahl's blade along with it. She let it go for a few moments before she stopped and shoved Arvos back before lunging in with a stab! Arvos dodged this time and went for a slash at Master Marahl's legs, only to find himself blocked and forced back again.

Arvos frowned. He knew that he was getting nowhere fast, though that wasn't at all surprising. He also knew that she was trying to force him to switch to two-bladed combat, whether that be saberstaff or dual wielding. She'd left herself open to those strikes already in an attempt to bait him into switching things up. She'd undoubtedly watched his duel with Alvya and was trying to pressure him into defaulting to those tactics. Arvos knew that he was eventually going to have to switch to a dual-bladed style, but not just yet. Duelists who used dual blades often developed a dependence on having both blades and losing one would throw them off-balance. Arvos had noted this many times throughout the history of lightsabers and lightsaber dueling and he would not allow himself that weakness.

Arvos blocked a quick series of strikes from Master Marahl before he planted his foot and entered another blade lock with his master, leveraging his weapon's longer hilt to overcome his master's superior strength and height. The one problem this left him with was that he wouldn't be able to make as precise movements with his blade while he was holding his weapon like this. Arvos managed to shove Master Marahl's blade back before he lunged forward with a stab of his own. However, Master Marahl bent to the side, avoiding the strike before slipping her own blade under his and pushing it upward and over Arvos's head! Arvos's eyes widened as he realized that he was being set up to be _wide open _and knew he had to do something quick, else this duel would be brought to a swift end.

Arvos could see the lightsaber blade heading full force towards his chest and knew that a single blade wouldn't cut it anymore. His second blade sparked to life, flashing into existence between himself and the incoming green plasma blade. Arvos gritted his teeth and grunted as he turned the tables on Master Marahl, forcing her blade up before whirling around and going for a slash at her midsection! Master Marahl dodged gracefully before performing a twirling leap and landing with her lightsaber pointed at him. Arvos recentered himself as he slowly twirled the his saberstaff in his hand before holding it out in front of him horizontally in his right hand before extending his left hand out behind him.

This time it was Arvos who took the initiative, rushing forward and flourishing his saberstaff before he broke into a quick series of strikes that had Master Marahl dancing backwards, her blade flashing as she elegantly blocked every one of Arvos's strikes. She'd changed from form IV to form II and it was obviously her natural style, if a bit unorthodox for Makashi. The elegant movements were there, but there was something just slightly off in it and Arvos couldn't figure out what it was. Either way, it was steadily throwing him off his rhythm.

Suddenly, Master Marahl changed tactics and went on the offensive; unleashing a hailstorm of strikes that Arvos was just barely able to keep up with! He was frantically twisting and spinning his saberstaff to keep up with the onslaught from his master's emerald blade. Arvos grit his teeth in concentration as he continued to give ground. He knew what was happening now. Master Marahl was pushing him to switch his fighting style again. However, much like before he didn't want to simply switch to from saberstaff to dual wielding just because he was in something of a bind. If he constructed his fighting style around free switching between single, double and dual wielding, he'd become handicapped if he was stripped of one of those options. He needed to be able to fight without compromise with all three styles if he was to become a Jedi Knight, let alone a Jedi Master.

Arvos grunted as he slid back, dropping to his knees and spinning, angling his saberstaff to ward off any incoming strikes before rising and swinging the rear blade around, causing Master Marahl to lightly step back before blocking the front blade. Arvos quickly swung the rear blade around again, only to have his strike blocked once more, this time faced with a counterattack. Arvos blocked it but found himself being pushed downward to a kneeling position. Now he knew he was out of options. No amount of extra leverage would help him here. Arvos disconnected the coupling and swung his left saber at Master Marahl, forcing her to disengage and prepare herself for Arvos's renewed assault. Arvos struck fast and hard, spinning a web of plasma around Master Marahl as he tried to break through her defences. However, he was disappoint (though not surprised) to find that he was making practically no headway in that regard.

Suddenly, Master Marahl locked blades with him. Arvos gritted his teeth as he pressed back against the green blade but Master Marahl would not budge. Then he noticed a smirk on Master Marahl's face before she suddenly twisted her blade and Arvos found his right-hand lightsaber suddenly skittering across the floor before his left wrist was rapped with the verdant sword, causing him to yelp in pain as he dropped his second saber. With a flick of her wrist, Master Marahl had her weapon levelled at Arvos's neck.

"Hmm… Not bad. I was expecting worse, given how much you've bitten off with your saber design, but you've got a solid grasp of the fundamentals for all three styles. Still, you are certainly rough around the edges. You were to whetted to a specific style, refusing to budge from it until you absolutely needed to. Additionally, while your first transition was better executed, your second could easily have been countered if I disengaged and went for a strike. In a battle with a full-fledged duelist you need to be able to transition fluidly from form to form, one motion into the next." Master Marahl assessed critically. Arvos nodded, ignoring the throbbing in his wrist as he used the Force to recollect his lightsabers and clipped them to his belt.

"I think I understand you a little better, young Moro. Your choice of weapon is not rooted in the superficial excitement of a youngling for their 'legendary weapon', nor is it rooted in a desire to showboat, both of which would have made you a much weaker duelist with that weapon. May I ask where this appreciation for the lightsaber came from?" Master Marahl inquired as she crossed her arms.

"I can't say I'm sure. I remember being fascinated with lightsabers for as long as I've been in the Jedi Temple. I've studied their history, ancient designs, philosophy on the weapons, everything tangentially related to them within the Archives that I can get to, I've probably gotten to multiple times." Arvos answered as he caught his breath. Despite knowing that he hadn't stood a chance to begin with, he was still frustrated with himself a bit, feeling like he hadn't shown what he was truly capable of. Or maybe that was what he was currently capable of and he'd overestimated himself. Both were equally plausible and frustrating in their own right.

"Well then, since we're here we might as well do some saber training. We'll start with only a single lightsaber to start." Master Marahl decided before she uncrossed her arms and ignited her lightsaber once again in salute. Arvos quickly did the same before both fell into ready positions.

"Now then, let us begin." Master Marahl declared before training began. It had only just started, but Arvos felt that training was quickly going to become nightmarish.

* * *

**And that's where we end it for today! Arvos has become a Padawan and his first lesson begins! Initially I was going to have Arvos go back to his youngling clan and break the news, but I figured I'd save that for next time. **

**Creativity: So, that's two Star Wars chapters under the belt now for when we resume publishing. How we gonna do this? **

**Author: I'm thinking once a week, depending on how many we have by the end of this. We've got two chapters of Before: KH ready, two chapters of this, two… maybe three chapters of Resurgence, plus we published that one special chapter of Limit Breaker… Wow, we've been working, huh… That doesn't even count the plotting and work done on that KH miniseries…**

**Creativity: Do you think we've stretched ourselves too thin?**

…

**Both: NAAAAAAHHH**

**Author: Well, not much else to say on our end! Thank you for reading, please review, hope to see you on Discord and we'll see you next time! **


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